BIOGRAPHICAL 

AND 
OTHER'ARTICLES^ 


WILLIAM- C'TOD'D'A-B  - 


UC-NRLF 


BIOGRAPHICAL  AND  OTHER  ARTICLES 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


AND 


OTHER    ARTICLES 


BY 

WILLIAM    C.  TODD,  A.B. 

PRESIDENT    OF    NEW    HAMPSHIRE     HISTORICAL     SOCIETY 


BOSTON 
LEE    AND    SHEPARD 

MCMI 


Copyright,   1901, 
By  WILLIAM    C.   TODD. 


^//  rights  reserved. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  AND  OTHER  .ARTICLES. 


TO 


.  Sarab  3,  SpaRnng 


IN    MEMORY    OF 

A    LONG    AND    UNBROKEN    FRIENDSHIP,    AND    IN    RECOGNITION 

OF    HER    MANY    GIFTS,    HER    REGARD    FOR    TRUTH, 

HER     TRUE    WOMANHOOD, 

AND    THE    GOOD    INFLUENCE     SHE    HAS     EXERTED    FOR 
HALF    A    CENTURY    ON    ALL    AROUND    HER, 

THIS   VOLUME 

IS    DEDICATED    BY    THE    AUTHOR 


PREFACE 


THIS  volume  is  published  more  from  the  urgency  of 
friends  than  from  the  belief  of  any  special  merit.  Most 
of  the  articles  were  written  years  ago  for  magazines,  and 
have  been  introduced  as  originally  published,  and  will 
receive,  I  trust,  charity  from  a  generous  public. 

WILLIAM  C.  TODD. 

ATKINSON,  N.H.,  June,  1901. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

DANIEL  WEBSTER 11 

[From  "  Green  Bag,"  June,  1896.] 

CALEB  GUSHING 34 

[From  "  Green  Bag,"  January,  1892.] 

KEV.  STEPHEN  PEABODY   AXD  WIFE 63 

[From  "  N.  E.  Historical  aud  Genealogical  Register,"  April,  1894.] 

THOMAS  HART  BENTON 83 

[In  part,  "Atlantic  Monthly,"  September,  1870.] 

TIMOTHY  DEXTER 104 

[From  "  N.  E.  Historical  and  Genealogical  Register," 
October,  1880,  and  July,  1890.] 

KNAPP'S  LIFE  OF  TIMOTHY  DEXTER 124 

GEN.  NATHANIEL  PEABODY 128 

A  SUMMER  IN  NORWAY 154 

SOME  PERSONS  I  HAVE  SEEN    .  192 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


THE  presentation  of  a  statue  of  Daniel  Webster  to 
the  Capitol  at  Washington  by  New  Hampshire,  his 
native  State,  has  called  attention  anew  to  the  life  and 
abilities  of  this  gifted  man,  especially  among  those  old 
enough  to  remember  the  time  when  he  was  so  prominent 
in  public  affairs,  and  when  Clay,  Webster,  and  Calhoun 
were  the  intellectual  giants  of  the  American  Congress. 
All  his  intimate  friends  have  passed  away ;  the  vener 
able  Robert  C.  Winthrop  was  the  last ;  and  but  few, 
comparatively  speaking,  survive  who  ever  listened  to 
him.  The  writer  remembers,  when  a  little  boy,  hearing 
a  guest  at  his  father's  fireside,  just  after  the  Knapp 
trials,  say,  "  Daniel  Webster  is  the  smartest  man  in  the 
United  States,"  and  ever  after  he  was  interested  to 
learn  all  about  this  remarkable  man. 

The  first  time  I  saw  Mr.  Webster  was  at  the  great 
Whig  convention  on  Bunker  Hill,  Sept.  10,  1840,  which 
I  attended  largely  to  see  him.  And  it  was  the  most 
fitting  of  all  places  to  look  on  him,  for  it  had  been 
associated  with  one  of  his  grandest  oratorical  efforts. 
There  he  had  stood  at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of 
the  Bunker  Hill  Monument,  with  Lafayette  by  his  side, 
and  before  him  the  "  venerable  men,"  "  remnant  of 
many  a  well-fought  field,"  whom  he  so  feelingly  ad 
dressed.  There,  too,  he  delivered  the  oration  at  the 

11 


12  BIOGRAPHICAL  AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

completion  of  the  monument  in  1843,  and  it  is  not  easy 
now  to  look  at  the  monument  and  not  think  of  Daniel 
Webster. 

There  had  never  before,  probably,  in  our  country  been 
so  large  a  convention,  for  the  recent  introduction  of 
railroads  had  then  first  made  such  a  gathering  possible, 
nor  has  one  since  been  more  enthusiastic.  The  country 
had  not  recovered  from  the  panic  of  1837,  and  the  hard 
times  were  charged,  as  usual,  to  the  party  in  power. 
Log  cabins  and  other  things  associated  with  General  Har 
rison  were  in  procession ;  songs  were  sung  with  all  sorts 
of  changes  on  "  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too,"  "  Van,  little 
Van,  Van  is  a  used-up  man ;  "  and  there  were  no  bounds 
to  the  excitement  of  the  crowd.  The  knowledge,  too, 
that  Mr.  Webster  was  to  preside  on  such  an  historic 
spot  drew  many  who  had  never  seen  him,  some  of  whom 
had  come  from  all  parts  of  New  England  in  the  strangest 
of  vehicles,  and  took  part  in  the  long  procession  through 
the  streets  of  Boston  to  Bunker  Hill.  Mr.  Winthrop 
called  the  convention  to  order,  and  introduced  Mr. 
Webster  as  the  president  of  the  day.  He  looked  older 
and  larger  than  I  had  imagined,  and  his  hair,  which  he 
brushed  back  from  his  massive  forehead,  was  becoming 
thin.  He  spoke  briefly,  and  then  with  appropriate 
words  introduced  the  different  speakers,  distinguished 
men  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  to  whom  the  place, 
the  excitement  of  that  remarkable  campaign,  and  the 
immense  crowd  gave  enthusiasm.  In  the  evening  he 
presided  over  a  meeting  in  Faneuil  Hall,  which  was 
crowded  to  its  utmost  capacity.  The  platform  was  then 
but  little  raised  above  the  body  of  the  hall,  and  I  pushed 
my  way  towards  it,  up  close  to  Mr.  Webster,  and  was  so 


DANIEL   WEBSTER  13 

near  that  I  put  my  hand  on  his  back,  proud  that  I  had 
touched  him.  I  heard  him  say  to  some  one,  "Mr. 
Mason,  I  wish  I  had  a  seat  for  you,"  and,  turning,  I  saw 
a  man  towering  above  every  one  else,  and  I  knew  it  was 
that  giant  in  body  and  mind,  one  of  the  greatest  lawyers 
New  England  has  ever  produced,  Jeremiah  Mason.  He 
stood  upon  a  little  elevation  at  last,  and,  with  his  deep- 
toned,  powerful  voice,  called  the  crowd  to  order.  His 
first  words  were,  alluding  both  to  the  financial  distress 
and  the  struggling  crowd  in  the  Hall,  "  My  friends,  our 
opponents  make  a  mistake,  as  you  can  all  witness,  when 
they  say  there  is  no  pressure  in  the  country  that  an 
honest  man  need  feel."  He  spoke  with  much  emphasis 
and  gesture,  dwelling  on  the  strong  reasons  for  a  change 
in  the  administration,  and  then  introduced  the  speakers 
of  the  evening.  I  remember  best  Ogden  Hoffman,  the 
eloquent  New  York  lawyer,  then  at  the  height  of  his 
fame  from  his  success  in  a  recent  noted  criminal  trial, 
"  Broad  Seal "  Governor  Pennington  of  New  Jersey, 
George  Evans  of  Maine,  Benjamin  Watkins  Leigh  of 
Virginia,  Governor  Kent,  for  whom  "  Maine  went  hell 
bent,"  and  Reverdy  Johnson. 

I  saw  Mr.  Webster  next  at  a  Dartmouth  College 
Commencement,  when  Levi  Woodbury,  who  would  have 
been  President  instead  of  Franklin  Pierce  had  he  lived, 
gave  an  oration,  and  Rufus  Choate  was  present,  the 
three  alumni  of  whom  the  college  is  so  proud.  He  was 
dressed  in  the  well-known  blue  coat  with  bright  buttons, 
and  wore  a  white  beaver.  He  declined  to  make  an 
address.  Mr.  Choate  was  also  requested  to  make  a 
political  speech,  but  with  a  sense  of  propriety  that  all 
public  men  do  not  have,  he  replied  that  partisan  politics 


14  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER    ARTICLES 

should  never  disturb  the  harmony  of  a  gathering  of 
scholars. 

Such  was  my  interest  in  Mr.  Webster,  that  if  I  met 
any  one  who  had  known  him,  I  was  anxious  to  make 
the  most  particular  inquiries.  Professor  Shurtleff,  of 
Dartmouth  College,  remembered  him  well  in  his  college 
days  as  thin,  dark  and  pale,  so  different  from  his  man 
hood  appearance.  He  slept  in  the  same  room  with  him 
the  first  night  young  Webster  spent  in  Hanover.  He 
denied  emphatically  the  oft-repeated  stories  that 
Webster  was  an  idle  student  and  tore  up  his  diploma. 
He  was  not  the  first  scholar  in  his  class,  but  it  is  certain 
that  he  gave  promise  of  his  future  eminence. 

Remarkable  as  were  his  powers,  his  industry  and  ap 
plication  developed  them  to  the  utmost.  He  could  con 
centrate  all  his  faculties  on  a  given  subject,  and  he 
would  never  undertake  difficult  work  when  he  was  tired. 
He  was  an  early  riser,  and  labored  early  in  the  day, 
when  mind  and  body  were  fresh.  He  stated  once  that, 
while  Secretary  of  State,  he  rose  every  morning  and 
shaved  himself  by  candle-light. 

His  competition  with  Jeremiah  Mason,  at  the  Rock- 
ingham  County  Bar,  sharpened  him  as  nothing  else 
could  have  done.  He  had  great  admiration  for  this 
lawyer,  and  the  story  is  well-known  that  when  he 
learned  that  the  celebrated  William  Wirt  was  to  be  his 
antagonist  in  a  case  in  Boston,  he  remarked,  "  I  was 
afraid  it  would  be  Jeremiah  Mason." 

When  he  began  practice,  Parker  Noyes  was  the  most 
learned  lawyer  at  the  Merrimac  County  Bar,  and  know 
ing  but  little  law  himself,  yet  having  an  opinion  of 
what  the  law  ought  to  be,  he  would  go  to  Mr.  Noyes 


DANIEL   WEBSTER  15 

and  state  his  point,  and  ask  where  the  cases  could  be 
found  sustaining  it. 

The  late  Judge  Tenney,  of  Maine,  told  me  that  Mr. 
Webster,  when  at  Portsmouth,  heard  one  of  Mr.  Mason's 
students  say  that  the  "  old  man  "  had  been  much  puzzled 
over  a  particular  law  difficulty,  but  had  settled  it.  Mr. 
Webster  inquired  what  it  was,  and  what  was  Mr. 
Mason's  solution,  and  did  not  forget  it.  A  few  years 
after,  in  New  York,  Aaron  Burr,  one  of  the  ablest  law 
yers  of  his  time,  applied  to  Mr.  Webster  for  his  opinion 
on  this  very  question,  and  was  surprised  to  hear  his 
ready  answer,  that  of  Mr.  Mason. 

His  retentive  memory,  termed  by  Mr.  Choate  "  one  of 
his  most  extraordinary  faculties,"  never  lost  information 
once  gained.  He  was  ever  thinking,  studying,  prepar 
ing  for  questions  that  might  arise.  He  had  no  time  to 
make  special  preparation  for  the  Hayne  speech,  the  most 
celebrated  ever  delivered  in  Congress,  but  he  was  pre 
pared.  It  is  said  that  some  of  the  sentences  that  have 
become  so  noted  had  been  elaborated  in  his  mind  for 
years  before  the  occasion  arose  to  use  them,  like  the  one 
so  often  quoted  on  the  power  of  England,  "  whose 
morning  drum-beat,  following  the  sun  and  keeping  com 
pany  with  the  hours,  circles  the  earth  with  one  continu 
ous  and  unbroken  strain  of  the  martial  airs  of  England." 
It  does  not  seem  possible  that  he  could  have  uttered 
that  passage  on  the  power  of  conscience  from  his  speech 
at  the  Knapp  trial  without  previous  preparation. 

Towards  the  close  of  his  life  especially,  Mr.  Webster 
was  often  dull  and  heavy,  disappointing  expectation.  It 
was  only  when  aroused  that  he  was  eloquent,  while 
Choate  could  never  be  dull.  One  who  often  heard  him, 


16  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER   ARTICLES 

told  me  he  only  once  saw  him  animated,  and  that  was 
when  the  judge,  to  his  surprise,  had  decided  a  point 
against  him.  It  aroused  him,  and,  warming  up,  he  con 
tended  that,  admitting  the  decision  of  the  court  to  be 
correct,  it  was  so  much  better  for  his  client,  and  he  put 
the  case  so  strongly  that  there  was  no  reply. 

An  ex-United  States  senator  gave  me  an  account  of  a 
visit  of  Mr.  Webster  to  Richmond.  It  had  been  ar 
ranged  that  he  should  make  an  address  in  the  evening 
from  the  hotel.  The  distinguished  men  of  Virginia 
were  around  him  at  the  dinner  table ;  the  conversation 
was  sparkling  ;  all  that  Virginia  hospitality  could  afford 
was  abundantly  supplied;  and  the  condition  of  the 
company  became  at  length  what  can  well  be  imagined. 
The  friends  of  Mr.  Webster  began  to  fear  that  he  was 
not  sufficiently  composed  for  the  effort,  and  proposed  to 
defer  the  address.  Several  leading  men  were  sent  to 
consult  him  in  regard  to  it,  but  he  adhered  to  his  pur 
pose  to  speak.  Mr.  John  M.  Botts,  a  noted  politician  of 
the  day,  and  a  special  friend,  was  sent  at  last  to  influ 
ence  him,  but  his  reply  was,  "  Mr.  Botts,  I  shall  speak 
to-night."  At  the  appointed  time,  he  was  aided  to  the 
balcony,  and  placed  before  the  audience.  He  gazed 
around  for  a  moment,  and  in  his  deep,  strong  voice,  such 
aa  they  had  never  heard  before,  extending  far  beyond 
the  most  distant  auditor,  began,  "  Virginians."  A  great 
cheer  broke  out  from  the  crowd.  Again  he  cried,  «  Vir- 
ginans,"  and  again  a  cheer.  He  was  aroused  then  and 
himself,  and  made  such  a  speech  as  only  Daniel  Webster 
could  have  made. 

Mr.  Webster  was  dignified  and  courteous  in  debate  to 
his  opponents,  and  rarely  drawn  into  personal  remarks. 


DANIEL   WEBSTER  17 

Almost  the  only  instance  recalled  was  in  his  reply  to  the 
attack  of  Charles  J.  Ingersoll,  in  1846,  who  had  accused 
him  of  corruption  in  connection  with  the  "secret 
service  "  fund,  and  made  other  charges  affecting  his  in 
tegrity.  Mr.  Webster  closed  his  reply  by  a  sentence 
whose  severity  has  been  rarely  equalled  :  "  I  now  leave 
the  gentleman  —  I  leave  him  with  the  worst  company  I 
know  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  —  I  leave  him  with  him 
self." 

Hon.  Horatio  G.  Parker,  of  the  Boston  Bar,  repeated 
to  me  recently  an  interesting  statement  regarding  this 
Ingersoll  charge  which  he  had  from  the  lips  of  Peter 
Harvey,  whose  authority  was  Jefferson  Davis  himself. 

Mr.  Davis  had  but  just  entered  Congress,  and  was 
much  surprised  when  the  Speaker  appointed  him  on  the 
committee  to  investigate  the  charges  made  by  Mr.  Inger 
soll  against  Mr.  Webster.  Soon  after  the  venerable 
John  Quincy  Adams  came  to  his  desk  and  addressed 
him  thus  :  "  Young  man,  you  have  received  an  appoint 
ment  on  a  very  important  committee  to  consider  a  very 
grave  charge.  I  am  older  than  you  are,  and,  perhaps, 
have  given  such  a  subject  more  thought.  The  greatness 
of  every  nation  is  mainly  due  to  the  sagacity  of  a  few 
great  men  who  have  guided  its  policy  at  critical  periods. 
It  was  so  with  the  nations  of  antiquity,  it  has  been 
especially  the  case  with  England  —  and  so  it  has  been, 
and  will  continue  to  be,  with  our  own  country.  The 
great  men  of  a  nation  are  its  chief  treasure.  You  have 
had  placed  in  your  hands  the  fair  fame  of  one  of  the 
greatest  men  America  has  produced,  and  be  careful  you 
do  not  needlessly  tarnish  it." 

Mr.  Davis  sent  a  letter  to  Mr.  Webster,  asking  when 


18  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

he  could  meet  the  committee,  and  a  reply  was  made  at 
once,  when  the  committee  wished.  At  the  appointed 
time,  he  produced  vouchers  for  every  expenditure  but 
one,  and  requested  delay  to  find  this.  In  a  short  time 
it  was  found,  having  been  mislaid  by  his  secretary  in  an 
old  desk  in  the  department.  Every  matter  Mr.  Ingersoll 
desired  was  investigated,  and  every  accusation  shown  to 
be  groundless. 

Mr.  Davis  met  Mr.  Ingersoll  soon  after,  and  said  to 
him  :  "  We  have  examined  fully  all  your  charges,  and 
Mr.  Webster  has  authenticated  and  satisfactorily  ac 
counted  for  every  expenditure  in  question.  Now,  Mr. 
Ingersoll,  I  think  you  should  state  in  the  House  that 
you  have  been  mistaken,  and  make  ample  apology  for 
what  you  have  said  and  done."  His  reply  was,  "  I  do 
not  know  about  that  —  I  do  not  think  I  shall."  "  Then," 
said  Mr.  Davis,  "  I  addressed  him  thus  :  '  I  wish  no 
more  to  do  with  you,  sir ;  and  if  you  ever  speak  to  me 
again  I  will  shoot  you.'  " 

A  lady  who  was  present  has  recently  told  me  of  the 
great  excitement  of  this  debate,  and  of  the  pale  face  and 
agitated  manner  of  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  Mr.  Webster's 
devoted  friend,  as  he  rose  to  reply. 

The  only  title  now  to  fame  of  Mr.  Ingersoll  is  his  dis 
creditable  charge  against  Mr.  Webster,  and  the  latter's 
reply. 

The  same  lady  told  me  of  a  gentleman  who  had  judged 
unfavorably  of  Mr.  Webster  on  account  of  his  well- 
known  careless  money  dealings,  who  paid  him  a  large 
sum  in  bills,  and  soon  after,  in  the  excitement  of  the 
conversation,  Mr.  Webster  rolled  them  up  and  put  them  in 
the  inkstand  as  a  cork,  showing  his  indifference  to  money. 


DANIEL   WEBSTER  19 

All  the  artists  to  whom  Mr.  Webster  sat  have  passed 
away,  the  last  and  most  famous,  Mr.  JETealy,  only 
a  few  weeks  ago,  who  painted  the  large  canvas  in  Fan- 
euil  Hall.  Among  others  to  whom  he  gave  sittings  was 
the  late  Thomas  B.  Lawson  of  Lowell,  in  connection 
with  which  the  artist  told  me  a  singular  circumstance. 
It  was  at  the  time  of  the  explosion  on  the  "Princeton," 
Feb.  28,  1844,  when  so  many  distinguished  men  were 
present  and  killed,  among  them  two  members  of  the  cab 
inet.  For  some  reason  Mr.  Webster  did  not  wish  to  go 
on  the  excursion,  and  as  he  had  made  an  engagement 
with  Mr.  Lawson  he  requested  the  artist  to  insist  on  its 
fulfilment,  which  was  done.  The  day  after  the  fatal 
explosion  Mr.  Webster  came  to  the  artist  and  said  with 
much  feeling,  "  Mr.  Lawson,  you  have  saved  my  life." 
He  expressed  to  the  artist  much  satisfaction  with  the 
portrait,  and  as  he  looked  at  it  said,  "  That  is  the 
face  I  shave  every  morning."  I  have  seen  it  stated  that 
he  made  the  same  remark  to  Mr.  Healy.  The  original, 
or  a  copy  by  the  artist,  was  in  the  family  of  the  late 
Wm.  B.  Todd  of  Washington,  D.C.,  and  is  now  owned 
by  his  daughter,  Mrs.  John  Jay  Knox  of  New  York 
City. 

Thomas  H.  Benton,  who  was  on  board  the  "Prince 
ton  "  at  the  time  of  the  explosion,  gave  me  an  account 
of  it,  and,  with  his  well-known  vanity,  said  his  own  life 
was  saved  by  his  thirst  for  information.  He  had  re 
quested  one  of  the  officers  to  explain  some  of  the  ma 
chinery,  which  took  him  away  from  the  neighborhood  of 
the  gun. 

As  is  well  known,  Mr.  Webster  remained  for  some 
time  in  the  cabinet  of  John  Tyler,  after  the  latter  had 


20  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER   ARTICLES 

lost  the  support  of  the  Whigs  by  his  veto  of  the  bank 
bill,  and  by  so  doing  displeased  many  of  his  friends. 
General  Fessenden,  the  father  of  William  Pitt  Fes- 
senden,  and  the  life-long  friend  of  Mr.  Webster,  in 
formed  me  at  the  time  that  Mr.  Webster  said,  if  it  had 
been  a  matter  of  reason,  he  could  have  argued  with  Mr. 
Tyler,  but  when  the  President  had  stated  that  it  was  a 
question  of  conscience,  as  he  believed  the  bill  unconsti 
tutional,  he  could  say  no  more. 

An  old  lawyer  has  told  me  how  kind  Mr.  Webster  was 
to  him  as  a  student  in  his  office  and  a  young  practitioner. 
He  went  to  Washington  to  argue  a  case  before  the  Su 
preme  Court,  and  in  the  most  delicate  manner  Mr. 
Webster  counselled  him  to  avoid  all  attempt  at  display, 
or  to  excite  feeling,  so  common  before  a  jury,  but  to 
state  his  case  and  his  law  as  simply  and  clearly  as  possi 
ble,  which  was  all  that  would  be  effective  before  hard 
lawyers  like  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court. 

Mr.  Webster's  most  common  competitor  at  the  Massa 
chusetts  bar  was  Rufus  Choate,  one  of  the  finest  scholars 
ever  sent  out  from  Dartmouth  College,  and  one  of  the 
most  eloquent  advocates  America  has  produced.  An 
anecdote  is  told  of  them  illustrating  Choate's  scholarship 
and  Webster's  persistency.  Webster  had  used  a  quota 
tion  from  the  classics,  and  Choate  passed  him  a  slip  cor 
recting  it.  Webster  wrote  on  it  "  a  false  correction  " 
and  returned  it.  Choate  sent  out  for  the  author,  and 
passed  it  to  Webster,  showing  his  accuracy.  Webster 
wrote  back,  "  spurious  edition." 

After  one  of  Mr.  Choate's  most  brilliant  arguments,  in 
which,  as  was  his  custom,  with  logic  and  close  rea 
soning  he  had  mingled  many  flowers  of  rhetoric  and 


DANIEL   WEBSTER  21 

flights  of  the  imagination,  Mr.  Webster  rose  to  reply,  and 
in  his  grave  tones,  with  a  wave  of  the  hand,  as  if  brushing 
it  aside,  he  began,  "  Poetry,  all  poetry,  gentlemen  of  the 
jury;  now  let  us  come  down  to  facts." 

All  are  interested  in  the  genealogy  of  distinguished 
men,  from  the  belief  that  mental  as  well  as  physical 
traits  are  inherited,  it  may  be,  from  generations  far  back. 
It  does  not  appear  that  Mr.  Webster  had  much  interest 
in  the  subject,  though  lie  employed  Joshua  Coffin,  the 
historian  of  Newbury,  to  trace  back  his  ancestry.  He 
was  so  poorly  informed  that  Mr.  Coffin  told  me  he  gave 
him  the  name  of  his  grandfather  incorrectly.  Different 
accounts  have  been  given  of  the  Webster  ancestry.  By 
request  of  General  Gushing,  Horatio  G.  Somerby,  the 
well-known  antiquarian,  looked  it  up  in  England,  and 
found  that  Thomas  Webster  was  one  of  a  colony  that 
came  from  Ormsby,  a  village  near  Yarmouth,  in  the 
county  of  Norfolk,  and  settled  in  Hampton.  The  history 
of  Gilmanton  states  that  the  first  American  ancestor  of 
Mr.  Webster  was  John  Webster,  who  came  from  Ips 
wich,  England,  settled  in  Ipswich,  Mass.,  and  was  made 
freeman  in  1635.  His  children  were  John,  Thomas,  Ste 
phen,  Nathan,  Israel,  and  four  daughters.  He  died  in 
1647.  Thomas,  born  in  1632,  lived  in  Hampton,  where 
he  married  in  1656  and  died  in  1715,  aged  83.  His  chil 
dren  were  Ebenezer,  Thomas,  Nathaniel,  and  some  others. 
Ebenezer,  son  of  Thomas,  was  a  grantee  of  Kingston,  in 
1692,  and  settled  there  in  1700,  where  Ebenezer  his  son 
was  born.  Ebenezer,  son  of  the  last  named  Ebenezer, 
was  born  in  1739,  and  was  the  father  of  Ezekiel  and 
Daniel.  He  enlisted  in  the  French  War  as  a  private, 
rose  to  be  a  captain,  returned  home,  and  was  married. 


22  BIOGRAPHICAL  AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

A  large  tract  of  unimproved  land  had  been  given  by 
the  Masonian  proprietors  to  Ebenezer  Stevens,  Oct.  25, 
1749.  Young  Webster  went  there  with  a  colony  to  set 
tle  in  1763,  to  whom  was  assigned  the  most  northern 
portion.  Originally  called  Bakerstown,  then  Stevens- 
town,  it  was  incorporated  as  Salisbury  in  1768.  He 
built  a  log  cabin  which  he  occupied  for  seven  years. 

Mr.  Webster  thus  spoke  of  his  father's  early  condition, 
which  cannot  be  too  often  quoted  :  "  A  man  who  is  not 
ashamed  of  himself  need  not  be  ashamed  of  his  early 
condition.  It  did  not  happen  to  me  to  be  born  in  a  log 
cabin,  but  my  older  brothers  and  sisters  were  born  in  a 
log  cabin,  raised  among  the  snow-drifts  of  New  Hamp 
shire,  at  a  period  so  early  that  when  the  smoke  rose 
from  its  rude  chimney  and  curled  over  the  frozen  hills, 
there  was  no  similar  evidence  of  a  white  man's  habita 
tion  between  it  and  the  settlements  on  the  rivers  of 
Canada." 

All  his  life  he  remained  poor,  and,  as  is  well  known, 
was  obliged  to  mortgage  his  farm  to  educate  his  chil 
dren.  Yet  he  was  always  honored,  respected,  and  use 
ful,  occupying  such  positions  as  State  representative  and 
senator,  member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention,  and 
judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas.  He  was  a  Chris 
tian,  too,  and  active  in  the  affairs  of  his  church.  He 
was  with  Stark  at  Bennington,  and  served  during  the 
whole  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  first  as  captain,  and 
promoted  to  be  colonel  in  1784.  He  was  in  the  army 
when  news  came  of  the  birth  of  Daniel.  Calling  to  his 
nephew,  he  said,  "  Here,  Stephen,  I  have  another  boy  at 
home ;  get  a  gallon  of  rum,  and  we  will  be  merry." 
This,  of  course,  was  long  before  temperance  days,  when 


DANIEL   WEBSTER  23 

even  good  Christians  thought  it  no  harm  to  use  stimu 
lants.  The  son  has  alluded  to  his  father's  fine  personal 
appearance.  He  was  tall,  dark,  stout,  with  keen  black 
eyes  and  a  powerful  voice,  all  characteristics  of  his  son 
Daniel. 

The  first  wife  of  Ebenezer  Webster  died  in  March, 
1774,  and  soon  after  he  went  to  his  old  home  on  a  visit. 
A  lady  friend  said  to  him,  "  Why  do  you  not  get  mar 
ried  again  ?  "  "I  would,"  he  replied,  "  if  I  knew  the 
right  one."  "  I  can  tell  you,"  she  said,  "  one  who  will 
just  suit  you  ;  about  as  black  as  you  are,  Abigail  East 
man  of  Salisbury."  She  gave  him  a  letter  of  introduc 
tion,  and  he  mounted  his  horse  for  Salisbury.  Reaching 
the  house,  a  young  woman  answered  his  call,  of  whom 
he  asked  for  Abigail  Eastman.  She  replied  that  that 
was  her  name,  when  he  handed  her  his  letter,  was  in 
vited  to  enter,  and  before  he  left  the  house  the  business 
was  satisfactorily  concluded.  They  were  married  Oct. 
13,  1774. 

She  was  a  tailor  ess  by  trade,  going  from  house  to 
house  as  her  services  were  needed.  Her  father  was  the 
owner  of  a  small  farm  a  short  distance  from  Newbury- 
port  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river.  The  family  came 
from  Wales,  and  settled  first  in  Salisbury,  Mass.  She 
had  two  brothers,  Ezekiel  and  Daniel,  for  whom  she 
named  her  boys. 

Both  of  Mr.  Webster's  parents  were  of  humble  origin, 
inured  to  toil.  Yet  they  gave  birth  to  a  son  by  whom 
they  have  been  more  honored  than  if  they  could  have 
traced  their  blood  through  a  thousand  titled  and  sense 
less  ancestors.  The  father  died  in  1806,  too  early  to 
know  of  his  son's  fame,  though  he  heard  his  first  effort 


24  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

at  the  bar.  His  mother  survived  till  1816,  and  lived 
long  enough  to  be  proud  of  her  son. 

Mr.  Webster  died  Sunday  morning,  as  the  day  was 
breaking,  Oct.  24,  1852,  and  old  people  well  remember 
the  sadness  that  passed  over  the  land  with  the  tidings, 
to  most  unexpected.  The  papers  for  days  were  full  of 
his  life,  his  intellect,  and  his  services.  One  paper  said, 
"  His  greatness  and  fame  have  become  such  a  part  of  our 
country,  we  did  not  think  we  could  ever  lose  him."  To 
quote  from  Mr.  Choate,  "  His  plain  neighbors  loved  him, 
and  one  said  as  he  was  laid  in  the  grave,  '  How  lonesome 
the  world  seems  ! ' '  Eulogies  were  delivered  all  over 
the  country,  and  party  feeling  was  hushed  in  the  wish  to 
honor  his  memory.  His  failings  —  for  he  had  them  — 
were  for  the  time  forgotten. 

The  most  remarkable  eulogy  was  that  of  Rufus  Choate, 
whose  heart  was  so  full  of  love  for  his  great  personal 
friend,  before  the  Alumni  of  Dartmouth  College,  the 
common  Alma  Mater.  It  was  a  fine  specimen  of  the 
style  of  this  gifted  orator.  One  sentence  fills  over  four 
pages  of  the  printed  copy.  He  traced  Mr.  Webster's 
career,  and  dwelt,  specially,  on  the  rare  spectacle  of  great 
eminence  at  the  bar  and  in  public  life.  "  When  he  died 
he  was  the  first  of  American  lawyers,  the  first  of  Ameri 
can  statesmen."  He  spoke  of  the  charm  of  his  social 
intercourse,  and  no  one  could  testify  better  than  one 
whose  relations  with  him  had  been  so  close  as  Mr. 
Choate's.  "  From  these  conversations  of  friendship  no 
man  —  no  man,  old  or  young  —  went  away  to  remember 
one  word  of  profanity,  one  allusion  of  indelicacy,  one 
impure  thought,  one  unbelieving  suggestion,  one  doubt 
cast  on  the  reality  of  virtue,  of  patriotism,  of  enthusiasm, 


DANIEL  WEBSTER  25 

of  the  progress  of  man  —  one  doubt  cast  on  righteous 
ness,  or  temperance,  or  judgment  to  come."  To  this 
moral  tribute  from  one  who  knew  him  so  intimately  it 
may  be  added  that  when  a  young  man  he  united  with  the 
Congregational  Church  at  Salisbury,  and  never  severed 
his  connection.  He  inherited  respect  for  religion. 

Prof.  Roswell  D.  Hitchcock,  the  eminent  scholar  and 
divine,  in  a  eulogy  before  the  students  of  Bowdoin  Col 
lege,  said,  "  Daniel  Webster  before  he  died  had  been 
crowned  as  the  ablest  man  this  continent  has  ever  pro 
duced.  ..."  "  He  seemed  to  belong  to  another  race 
and  order  of  beings.  His  brain  exceeded  in  size  the 
common  average  by  at  least  one-third.  Only  two  such 
heads  had  ever  been  noticed  in  the  world  before.  The 
glance  of  his  eye  was  marvellous,  searching  as  light  itself; 
and  when  strong  feeling  roused  him  it  was  terrible. 
Those  who  came  the  closest  to  him  were  the  most  de 
lighted  and  amazed.  The  impression  always  made  was 
that  of  vast  power  never  yet  called  out." 

By  invitation  of  Peter  Harvey,  there  was  a  memorable 
festival  at  Boston,  Jan.  18, 1859,  to  celebrate  the  seventy- 
seventh  anniversary  of  Mr.  Webster's  birthday.  All  who 
participated  by  speech  or  by  letter  had  been  closely  con 
nected  with  him,  and  spoke  from  personal  knowledge. 

Gen.  Caleb  Gushing  was  called  to  preside.  In  his 
opening  address  he  alluded  to  the  intimacy  existing  be 
tween  them  in  public  and  private  life,  and  spoke  of  "  his 
respect,  admiration,  and  attachment  for  Webster,  begin 
ning  at  an  early  date,  and  acquiring  new  strength  with 
every  day  of  a  constant  and  most  confidential  intimacy." 
.  .  .  "  Cherishing  and  honoring  the  name  of  Webster, 
we  cherish  and  honor  the  Constitution  he  defended,  the 


26  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

Liberty  he  maintained,  and  the  Union  he  upheld,  as  one 
and  inseparable,  now  and  forever.  We  but  tread  the 
path  of  his  own  great  foot-prints,  indelibly  stamped  on 
the  face  of  the  rock  of  ages,  like  those  of  L,he  pre-Adamite 
colossus-birds  on  the  banks  of  the  Connecticut,  so  long 
as  we  follow  the  flag,  and  keep  step  to  the  music  of  the 
Union."  His  speech  abounded  in  classical  allusions,  of 
which  his  mind  was  so  full,  comparing  Mr.  Webster  with 
the  great  men  of  antiquity.  Rufus  Choate  spoke  with 
his  usual  marvellous  eloquence,  so  soon  to  be  hushed,  for 
his  health  had  begun  to  fail,  and  he  died  the  same  year. 
There  was  a  sad  tone  to  his  remarks,  for  there  were  fore 
bodings  of  the  terrible  strife  so  soon  to  deluge  the  land 
with  fraternal  blood,  from  the  sorrow  of  which,  however, 
he  was  spared.  He  dwelt  on  the  reserved  power  in  Mr. 
Webster  and  his  love  of  the  Union : 

"  Although  I  have  seen  him  act,  and  have  heard  him 
speak  and  give  counsel  in  very  sharp  and  difficult  cases, 
I  always  felt  that  if  more  had  been  needed,  more  could 
have  been  done ;  and  that  half  his  strength,  or  all  his 
strength,  he  put  not  forth.  I  never  saw  him  make  what 
is  called  an  effort  without  feeling  that,  let  the  occasion 
be  what  it  would,  he  would  have  swelled  out  to  its  limits. 
There  was  always  a  reservoir  of  power  of  which  you 
never  sounded  its  depths,  certainly  never  saw  the  bot 
tom  ;  and  I  cannot  imagine  any  great  historical  and  civil 
occasion  to  which  he  would  not  have  brought,  and  to 
which  he  would  not  be  acknowledged  to  have  brought, 
adequate  ability.  .  .  .  The  Union,  the  Constitution 
-the  national  federal  life  —  the  American  name  —  E 
Pluribus  Unum  —  these  filled  his  heart  —  these  dwelt 
in  his  habitual  speech.  .  .  .  Oh !  for  an  hour  of 


DANIEL   WEBSTER  27 

Webster  now !  Oh !  for  one  more  roll  of  his  thunder 
inimitable  !  One  more  peal  of  that  clarion  !  One  more 
grave  and  bold  counsel  of  moderation !  One  more  throb 
of  American  feeling !  One  more  farewell  address  !  And 
then  might  he  ascend  unhindered  to  the  bosom  of  his 
father  and  his  God." 

Reverdy  Johnson,  one  of  the  ablest  lawyers  of  his 
time,  in  a  letter,  expressed  himself  thus  warmly : 

"  From  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  to  the  present 
time,  with  all  the  reverence  and  admiration  we  so  justly 
entertain  for  the  many  great  and  patriotic  men,  living 
and  dead,  who  have  illustrated  and  enforced  its  true 
doctrines,  it  is  no  disparagement  to  them,  individually 
or  collectively,  to  say  that  on  the  26th  of  January,  1830, 
and  the  16th  of  February,  1833,  they  received  a  support 
from  his  lips  never  before  furnished,  and  one  that 
scattered  to  the  winds  the  sophistry,  suggested  by  an 
erring  sense  of  State  patriotism,  that  threatened  to 
weaken,  and  eventually  to  undermine  them.  His  reply 
to  Colonel  Hayne  at  the  first  date,  and  to  Mr.  Calhoun  at 
the  second,  eclipsing  in  eloquence  all  that  the  Old  or  the 
New  World  had  before  exhibited,  were  so  clearly 
reasoned,  so  logically  powerful,  so  patriotically  perfect, 
so  captivating  and  persuasive  of  the  heart  and  the 
intellect,  that  the  whole  nation,  as  by  one  irresistible 
impulse,  assented  and  applauded,  and  with  united  voice 
proclaimed  throughout  the  entire  land  that  proudest  of 
all  earthly  titles  to  an  American  citizen  to  be  his,  which 
the  galleries,  at  the  close  of  the  last  effort,  unable  to 
restrain  themselves,  and  unrebuked,  by  one  spontaneous 
and  deafening  cheer,  awarded  him,  '  Daniel  Webster,  the 
Defender  of  the  Constitution.' 


28  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER    ARTICLES 

"But  beside  my  admiration  of  those  almost  more  than 
human  efforts,  and  my  appreciation  of  their  inestimable 
value  to  us  as  a  people,  and  my  knowledge,  from  an 
intimacy  with  which  for  years  he  honored  me,  of  his 
ever  perfect  patriotism  —  his  constant  devotion,  to  the 
last  moment  of  his  public  service,  to  what  he  believed  to 
be  the  true  honor  and  welfare  of  his  country,  I  remem 
ber  with  delight  (who,  that  knew  him  well,  can  ever 
forget?)  the  charms  of  his  society,  when  relieved  for 
the  moment  from  the  severe  duties  of  life,  surrounded 
by  a  few  friends,  he  poured  out  the  riches  of  his  mind, 
the  playfulness  of  his  fancy,  the  charms  of  his  wit,  his 
anecdotes  ever  so  apposite  —  the  goodness  of  his  heart. 
Look  at  his  firm  figure,  his  stern,  mighty  brow,  promis 
ing  nothing  but  intellect,  his  evidently  concentrated 
thought — could  the  tenderness  and  susceptibility  of 
infancy  be  there  also  ?  Yes,  it  was.  I  have  seen  him, 
when  he  supposed  himself  unseen,  weep  as  if  his  heart 
would  break  at  the  death  of  a  senatorial  colleague.  His 
friend  had  been  ill  for  weeks,  but  on  that  morning  was 
thought  to  be  convalescent,  when  in  the  evening  death 
was  his  fate. 

44  The  suddenness  and  unexpectedness  of  the  tidings 
unnerved  Mr.  Webster,  and  his  nature  showed  itself  as 
it  was,  kind,  affectionate,  loving.  Tears,  the  evidence 
of  it,  coursed  down  his  manly  cheeks  without  an  effort 
on  his  part  to  check  them. 

"  He  is  lost  to  us,  and  to  his  country,  but  his  works 
remain.  His  speeches  are  left.  What  a  rich,  invaluable 
legacy  to  the  cause  of  letters,  of  eloquence,  and  of 
freedom  !  They  show  how  mighty  a  man  he  was.  They 
will  live  as  long  as  the  English  language  survives,  in- 


DANIEL   WEBSTER  29 

tellect  is  honored,  free  institutions  valued,  and  transmit 
him  to  after-ages  as  one  of  the  great  of  the  world,  born 
to  influence  the  destiny  of  man  by  inculcating  principles 
of  constitutional  freedom,  calculated  to  secure  to  him 
the  liberty  he  has  a  right  to  enjoy,  and  the  submission  to 
authority,  without  which  it  cannot  exist." 

Professor  Felton,  in  his  speech,  spoke  of  a  breakfast 
with  the  eminent  poet,  Samuel  Rogers  : 

"  Mr.  Rogers  sat  at  the  head  of  the  table,  surrounded 
by  the  most  illustrious  lights  of  English  science 
and  literature.  There  he  sat,  over  ninety  years  of  age, 
pale  as  a  corpse,  and  almost  as  silent,  while  the  con 
versation  upon  topics  of  letters  and  science  was  passing 
around  him.  But  when  the  name  of  Webster  was  men 
tioned,  he  started  up;  a  new  life  seemed  to  course 
through  his  veins;  the  color  came  to  his  cheek.  He 
rose,  and  taking  his  knife  in  his  hand,  and  ringing  it 
down  on  the  table,  said,  '  Mr.  Webster  was  a  friend  and 
correspondent  of  mine.  He  was  the  greatest  man  of  his 
age.'" 

Charles  Sumner  told  Mrs.  S.  J.  Spalding  of  Newbury- 
port  that  he  was  in  England  at  the  time  when  Mr. 
Webster  was  there.  At  a  dinner  Mr.  Webster  was 
obliged  to  leave,  and  he  listened  to  the  talk  about  him. 
One  gentleman  said  that  he  was  disappointed,  and  when 
asked  why,  replied,  "  I  did  not  know  that  God  had  ever 
made  a  man  so  wonderful  as  that  man  looks  to  be." 

Mr.  Goodrich  (Peter  Parley)  said  to  Mrs.  Spalding 
that  Wm.  Wirt  spoke  to  him  of  Mr.  Webster's 
remarkable  face  and  the  sweetness  of  his  smile.  Once 
when  they  were  together  his  little  daughter  was  present, 
and  as  they  conversed  seemed  more  and  more  afraid  of 


30  BIOGKAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

Mr.  Webster,  and  drew  away.  At  last  Mr.  Webster 
noticed  her,  put  on  his  sweetest  smile,  and  said,  "  Come 
here  and  see  me,  my  little  girl."  She  ran  to  him  at 
once,  and  he  took  her  in  his  arms. 

As  early  as  1820,  when  the  great  ability  of  Mr. 
Webster  had  only  begun  to  be  recognized,  John  Adams 
luidsaid  of  his  Plymouth  oration: 

"  Mr.  Burke  is  no  longer  entitled  to  the  praise,  the 
most  consummate  orator  of  modern  times.  .  .  .  This 
oration  will  be  read  five  hundred  years  hence  with  as 
much  rapture  as  it  was  heard." 

No  stronger  evidence  could  be  given  than  that  con 
tained  in  these  extracts  from  men  of  national  reputation, 
his  intimate  associates  in  public  life,  how  deeply  Mr. 
Webster's  ability  impressed  his  own  generation,  nor  is  it 
believed  from  the  tone  of  the  speeches  at  the  reception 
of  the  statue  by  such  men  as  Senator  Hoar,  that  the 
intervening  years  have  materially  modified  that  judg 
ment. 

Of  Mr.  Webster's  two  sons  who  reached  maturity, 
Edward  was  graduated  from  Dartmouth  in  1841,  though 
he  had  studied  mostly  in  Europe  under  the  care  of  Mr. 
Everett.  He  died  in  1848  in  the  Mexican  war,  and 
Fletcher  in  the  war  of  the  Rebellion.  All  his  descen 
dants  have  passed  away.  The  mother  of  his  children 
was  Grace  Fletcher,  of  Hopkinton,  N.H.,  whom  he 
married  in  1808.  An  old  lady,  her  schoolmate  at  Atkin 
son  Academy,  has  told  me  she  was  a  pale,  modest,  sweet 
girl,  whom  all  loved.  During  a  recent  visit  to  Hopkin 
ton,  the  house  where  she  was  born  was  pointed  out,  and 
I  saw  also  the  grave  of  her  father,  Rev.  Elijah  Fletcher, 
who  died  in  1786,  at  the  age  of  39. 


DANIEL   WEBSTER  31 

Most  of  the  leading  men  of  that  period  have  been  for. 
gotten  by  the  masses,  but  much  as  Webster  impressed 
his  contemporaries,  the  more  than  forty  years  since  his 
decease  have  not  lessened  his  fame.  At  the  World's 
Fair  the  thing  that  most  attracted  attention  in  the  New 
Hampshire  exhibit  was  a  huge  plow,  said  to  have  been 
made  and  used,  by  him.  He  was  a  great  lawyer,  a  great 
statesman,  a  great  writer,  a  great  orator.  He  had  the 
faculty  of  grasping  the  heart  of  a  question,  and  present 
ing  it  with  irresistible  power,  in  plain  Saxon  language, 
so  that  even  the  uneducated  could  understand.  The 
speeches  of  many  of  our  American  statesmen  have  been 
collected,  but  none  have  continued  to  be  read  as  those  of 
Mr.  Webster  ;  none  are  so  often  quoted  ;  from  none  have 
come  down  to  us  so  many  sentences  that  have  become  as 
household  words.  He  early  studied  to  acquire  a  clear, 
condensed  style,  and  was  particular  in  his  choice  of 
words.  He  could  not  have  made  such  speeches  as  have 
distinguished  the  recent  silver  and  tariff  debates  in  Con 
gress  —  mountains  of  words,  all  striving  to  ride  on  the 
back  of  a  few  poor  ideas. 

The  remembrance  of  Daniel  Webster  was  so  strong 
on  my  mind  Memorial  Day,  May  30,  1900,  that  I  deter 
mined  to  celebrate  it  by  a  visit  to  Bunker  Hill,  where 
I  had  first  seen  him,  at  the  great  Whig  convention, 
nearly  sixty  years  before.  The  same  hill  was  there,  and 
towering  above  it  was  the  granite  monument,  at  the  lay 
ing  of  whose  corner-stone  he  made  the  address,  in  the 
presence  of  Lafayette  and  the  spared  "  venerable  men  " 
of  the  Revolution ;  but  the  great  crowd  of  1840  had  dis 
appeared,  and  only  a  few  stragglers  were  idling  away  the 
holiday  time  on  the  benches  around  the  monument. 


32  BIOGRAPHICAL  AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

Boys  were  selling  newspapers,  and  the  one  I  bought 
had  the  big  heading:  "Bobs  in  Johannesburg  —  will 
enter  the  city  at  noon  to-day.  Salisbury's  statement  — 
Not  a  shred  of  independence  will  be  left  the  Boer  Re 
publics"  —  which  statement  has  since  become  history, 
for  the  Republics  have  been  declared  a  part  of  the 
British  Empire. 

There  was  a  contrast  I  could  not  but  feel.  England 
was  full  of  rejoicings  over  crushing  people  whose  only 
crime  was  struggling  for  freedom,  and  we,  the  same  day, 
were  honoring  the  memory  of  our  ancestors,  who  had 
fought  on  this  hill  for  freedom  against  this  same  Eng 
land  ! 

The  thought  came  to  me,  if  Daniel  Webster  could  be 
called  back  to  address  an  audience  to-day,  what  would  he 
think,  and  what  would  he  say?  He  was  born  during 
the  Revolution;  his  father  was  a  soldier  in  the  contest; 
and  the  spirit  of  liberty  was  born  in  him.  What  would 
he  think  and  say,  not  simply  of  the  wars  now  waged 
against  freedom  by  the  two  nations  claiming  to  be  the 
most  civilized  and  Christian,  as  they  certainly  are  the 
most  powerful,  of  the  world,  but  on  many  other  ques 
tions  now  agitating  the  country? 

He  was  taught  to  revere  the  Declaration  of  Indepen 
dence.  What  would  he  say  of  the  way  in  which  it  is 
now  spoken  of  by  many  of  our  statesmen  ?  He  had 
some  reputation  as  a  Constitutional  lawyer.  What  would 
he  say  of  the  new  interpretations  put  upon  the  Consti 
tution,  by  statesmen  of  easy  virtue,  to  adapt  it  to  every 
new  condition  as  required  ?  Would  he  now  support,  or 
oppose,  the  views  Senator  Hoar  has  so  ably  presented? 
Oh  !  that  Daniel  Webster  could  again  address  the  coun- 


DANIEL   WEBSTER  33 

try  —  but  who  would  listen  to  him  ?  Inter  arma  silet 
ratio,  and  with  the  spirit  of  aggressive  war  all  over  the 
earth  as  never  before,  strongest  where  civilization  and 
Christianity  are  supposed  to  be  most  advanced,  advocated 
as  a  means  of  promoting  true  manhood  and  good  in 
itself,  how  little  even  the  words  of  the  Prince  of  Peace 
are  heeded !  It  is  sad  to  believe,  inter  arma  silet  religio  ! 


CALEB   GUSHING 


OISTE  of  the  most  eminent  men  of  his  time  for  his  long 
and  distinguished  career  as  a  jurist,  statesman,  and  diplo 
matist,  and  for  the  versatility  of  his  gifts  and  his  great 
learning,  was  Caleb  Gushing. 

Caleb  Gushing  was  born  in  Salisbury,  Mass.,  just  over 
the  river  from  Newburyport,  Jan.  17,  1800.  His  first 
ancestor  in  America  was  Mathew  Gushing,  who  came 
from  Hingham,  Eng.,  in  1638,  and  settled  in  Hingham, 
Mass.  His  father  was  John  N.  Gushing,  who  removed 
to  Newburyport  in  1802,  and  became  one  of  the  most 
successful  shipmasters  and  merchants  of  that  place. 
Young  Gushing  was  prepared  for  college  by  Michael 
Walsh,  author  of  a  noted  arithmetic,  and  was  graduated 
from  Harvard  in  1817.  Mr.  George  B.  Emerson,  a  class 
mate,  said  that  though  one  of  the  youngest,  he  was  the 
most  distinguished  member  of  a  class  including  many 
who  in  after  years  became  celebrated.  For  two  years 
next  succeeding  his  graduation  he  was  employed  at  Har 
vard  as  a  tutor  in  mathematics  and  natural  philosophy 
-a  position  given  only  to  the  best  scholars.  While 
there  he  became  specially  interested  in  plants  and  min 
erals,  arid  took  many  long  walks  to  gather  them,  and 
formed,  it  is  said,  the  best  collection  of  Essex  County 
specimens  then  in  existence.  He  spent  hours,  too,  in 
the  evening  studying  the  constellations.  In  1819  he 

34 


CALEB    GUSHING. 
Taken  in   Geneva,  1872. 


CALEB  GUSHING  35 

gave  a  poem  before  the  Harvard  chapter  of  the  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  Society. 

Resigning  his  place  as  tutor,  he  studied  law  with  Hon. 
Ebenezer  Mosely,  of  Newhuryport,  and  at  the  Harvard 
Law  School,  and  on  his  admission  to  the  bar  opened  an 
office  at  Newburyport.  In  1823  he  married  Caroline 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Judge  Samuel  S.  Wilde,  a  most 
accomplished  lady,  author  of  "Letters  Descriptive  of 
Public  Monuments,  Scenery,  and  Manners  in  France  and 
Spain,"  which  was  very  favorably  reviewed  by  Alex 
ander  Everett  in  the  "  North  American  Review."  She 
died  in  1832,  and  he  never  married  again.  They  were 
childless. 

Mr.  Gushing  at  once  became  prominent  in  his  profes 
sion,  though  the  Essex  County  Bar  at  that  time  had  a 
galaxy  of  able  lawyers,  among  whom  was  Rufus  Choate, 
of  the  same  age,  born  within  a  dozen  miles  of  him,  who, 
perhaps,  never  had  his  equal  in  the  United  States  as  a 
jury  lawyer.  By  contact  with  these  men  his  powers 
were  stimulated  and  sharpened.  At  the  same  time  he 
entered  warmly  into  the  political  questions  of  the  day, 
made  frequent  contributions  to  the  literary  periodicals 
and  the  newspapers,  and  in  1826  published  a  history  of 
Newburyport.  He  began  life  with  that  indomitable 
energy  and  industry  which  he  ever  maintained. 

In  1825  Mr.  Gushing  was  chosen  representative  to  the 
Massachusetts  Legislature,  and  in  1826  was  elected 
State  Senator,  and  in  both  positions  was  prominent. 
Too  close  application,  however,  had  impaired  his  health, 
and  in  1829  he  visited  Europe  with  his  wife  and  re 
mained  there  two  years.  Much  of  this  time  he  spent  in 
Spain,  of  which  country  he  made  a  special  study,  and  in 


36  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

whose  language  he  acquired  an  unusual  proficiency.  On 
his  return  he  published  "  Reminiscences  of  Spain,"  a 
work  in  two  volumes,  which  was  favorably  received,  as 
up  to  that  time  this  country  had  been  but  little  visited 
by  American  travellers. 

Mr.  Gushing  represented  Newburyport  in  the  Massa 
chusetts  Legislature  in  1833  and  1834,  and  in  1834  was 
elected  to  Congress,  where  he  served  till  March  4,  1843. 

From  the  first  his  ability  was  recognized.  Mr.  Web 
ster  said  that  "  Mr.  Gushing  had  not  been  six  weeks  in 
Congress  before  he  was  acknowledged  to  be  the  highest 
authority  on  what  had  been  the  legislation  of  Congress 
on  any  given  subject."  It  was  a  period  of  the  keenest 
party  feeling,  for  it  was  during  the  close  of  General  Jack 
son's  administration  and  all  of  Van  Buren's.  New 
questions  were  constantly  arising,  some  of  them  of  a 
Constitutional  nature,  and  they  were  discussed  with  an 
ability  that  had  not  been  surpassed  before,  and  has  not 
been  since.  General  Jackson  was  opposed  to  the  United 
States  Bank,  vetoed  bills  for  its  recharter,  withdrew 
from  it  the  Government  funds,  and  deposited  them  in  dif 
ferent  State  banks,  which  lent  the  money  freely  and  en 
couraged  speculation.  Then  came  the  severe  financial 
panic  of  1837.  The  result  was  general  discontent  with 
the  party  in  power,  unaided  now  by  General  Jackson's 
popularity,  and  the  overwhelming  election  of  General 
Harrison  in  1840. 

Into  all  the  discussions  in  Congress  and  before  popu 
lar  assemblies,  Mr.  Gushing  threw  himself  with  all  his 
vigor,  and  with  an  ability  that  gave  him  a  national  repu 
tation.  The  campaign  of  1840  was  probably  the  most 
remarkable  in  American  history.  It  was  the  first  when 


CALEB  GUSHING  37 

large  crowds  were  assembled  at  political  gatherings  in 
every  part  of  the  country,  for  the  building  of  railroads 
to  all  the  great  centres  of  population  had  then  first  made 
such  gatherings  possible. 

The  leading  feature  of  the  campaign  was  the  introduc 
tion  of  new  means  of  influencing  the  masses.  General 
Harrison  had  been  nominated  because  of  his  supposed 
availability,  and  one  of  his  opponents,  to  disparage  him, 
had  said  he  lived  in  a  log  hut,  and  drank  hard  cider. 
This  was  taken  up  as  the  rallying  cry  by  the  Whigs,  and 
log  cabins  and  cider  barrels  were  carried  in  all  the  pro 
cessions,  the  barrels  always  empty  at  the  end  of  the  route, 
if  not  at  the  beginning.  General  Harrison's  simplicity 
of  life  was  contrasted  with  the  alleged  extravagance  of 
Van  Buren,  who  was  said  to  use  "  gold  spoons."  Many 
popular  songs  were  composed  and  sung,  full  of  taking 
phrases  that  wonderfully  excited  the  crowds.  One  that 
is  remembered  ran  thus  in  the  chorus  : 

"  Hurrah,  hurrah,  hurrah, 

For  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too, 
For  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too, 
And  with  them  we'll  beat  little  Van, 
Van,  Van,  Van  is  a  used  up  man." 

One  of  the  largest  of  the  mass  meetings  was  that  on 
Bunker  Hill,  September  10,  presided  over  by  no  less  a 
man  than  Daniel  Webster,  and  addressed  by  the  most 
distinguished  men  from  all  over  the  country,  of  whom 
are  recalled  Ogden  Hoffman,  so  celebrated  as  a  jury  law 
yer,  Benjamin  Wa-tkins  Leigh,  Reverdy  Johnson,  then  a 
young  man,  and  Governor  Pennington  of  New  Jersey, 
besides  many  orators  from  New  England.  The  writer 


38  BIOGRAPHICAL  AND   OTHER  ARTICLES 

was  then  a  boy,  an  ardent  Whig,  anxious  above  all  to 
look  on  the  face  of  Daniel  Webster,  and  well  remembers 
the  enthusiasm  and  excitement  of  the  occasion.  All  the 
prominent  men  who  took  part  have  passed  away,  the 
last  to  go  being  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  then  a  young 
man,  who  called  the  convention  to  order,  and  who  long 
survived,  —  a  noble  remnant  of  what  seems  to  have  been 
an  heroic  age  of  great  men. 

In  this  Harrison  campaign  Mr.  Gushing  took  an  im 
portant  part.  He  wrote  a  life  of  General  Harrison,  which 
was  extensively  circulated,  and  made  speeches  continu 
ally,  one  of  which  I  heard.  The  meeting  was  presided 
over  by  a  man  who  up  to  that  time  had  been  a  leading 
Democrat,  but  who  had  been  unable  to  withstand  the 
strong  drift  to  the  Whigs,  and  had  suddenly  changed  his 
party.  Long  before  the  election  it  was  evident  which 
party  would  win,  especially  when  the  hitherto  strong 
Democratic  State  of  Maine  elected  a  Whig  governor ;  as 
it  was  expressed  at  the  time : 

"  Maine  went  hell-bent 
For  Governor  Kent." 

The  election  of  Harrison  and  the  prominence  in  it  of 
Mr.  Gushing  would  seem  to  have  opened  up  great  possi 
bilities  for  him,  intimate  as  he  was  with  Mr.  Webster, 
the  new  Secretary  of  State  ;  but  in  one  short  month 
the  President  died,  was  succeeded  by  John  Tyler,  who 
vetoed  Mr.  Clay's  Bank  Bill,  and  the  Whig  party,  led 
by  their  great  chief,  broke  away  from  the  President,  and 
-it  is  not  too  strong  a  word  to  use  —  hated  him. 
Whether  wise  or  unwise  in  his  action,  there  is  no 
doubt  President  Tyler  was  actuated  by  honest  motives. 


CALEB  GUSHING  39 

General  Fessenden,  the  father  of  William  Pitt  Fessen- 
den,  stated  to  me  at  the  time  that  Mr.  Webster  so 
believed,  and  had  said  to  him  that  if  it  had  been 
a  matter  of  argument  he  could  have  reasoned  with  him ; 
but  when  Mr.  Tyler  had  put  it  as  a  matter  of  conscience 
that  he  could  not  sign  what  he  believed  to  be  an  uncon 
stitutional  bill,  he  could  say  nothing. 

Mr.  Webster  alone  of  the  Cabinet  remained ;  and  Mr. 
Gushing,  sympathizing  with  the  course  of  President 
Tyler,  also  adhered  to  him,  and  of  course  lost  the  favor 
of  the  Whigs,  and  cast  in  his  lot  with  the  Democrats, 
with  whom  he  in  future  acted.  He  was  nominated  for 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  his  fitness  was  not  ques 
tioned;  but  the  party  of  Mr.  Clay  transferred  their 
dislike  of  Tyler  to  all  his  adherents,  and  he  was  rejected. 
He  was  soon  after  sent  as  Commissioner  to  China,  and 
negotiated  our  first  treaty  with  that  country,  securing  to 
us  great  commercial  advantages.  His  success  was  a 
matter  of  national  congratulation,  for  the  anti-Chinese 
feeling  had  not  then  arisen. 

On  his  return  he  was  again  chosen  representative  to 
the  State  Legislature  —  an  office  his  home  was  ever 
proud  to  bestow  on  him. 

The  Mexican  war  began  in  1846,  and  in  1847  Mr. 
Gushing  raised  a  regiment,  mainly  at  his  own  expense, 
went  to  the  war  as  its  colonel,  served  till  its  close,  and 
returned  with  the  rank  of  brigadier-general.  The  war 
was  not  popular  in  New  England,  for  it  was  regarded 
as  waged  for  the  extension  of  slavery,  and  no  one  could 
foresee  its  immense  influence  over  the  future  of  our  coun 
try  by  the  acquisition  of  California.  To  Mr.  Gushing, 
however,  it  was  the  war  of  his  country,  and  it  enabled 


40  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

him  also  to  gratify  a  natural  taste  for  military  affairs. 
While  in  Mexico  he  was  nominated  by  the  Democrats 
as  their  candidate  for  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  but 
with  no  hope  of  an  election  in  that  strong  Whig  State. 

Newburyport  was  incorporated  as  a  city  in  1851,  and 
Mr.  Gushing  served  as  its  first  mayor. 

In  1851  and  1852  he  was  a  member  of  the  Massachu 
setts  Legislature,  and  was  the  leader  of  the  opposition 
to  the  coalition  that  elected  Mr.  Sumner  to  the  United 
States  Senate. 

In  1852  he  was  appointed  a  Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Massachusetts,  discharging  his  duties  to  the 
admiration  of  the  Bar,  who  wondered  at  his  familiarity 
with  the  reports,  and  the  profound  knowledge  of  law 
shown  in  his  decisions,  drawn  as  he  had  been  so  long 
from  active  practice.  To  prepare  himself  he  read  in 
nineteen  days  the  fifty-seven  volumes  of  Massachusetts 
reports. 

The  Democratic  convention  for  nominating  a  candi 
date  for  President  met  at  Baltimore  June  12,  1852. 
There  were  several  candidates.  The  friends  of  each 
were  persistent ;  and  after  35  ballots  in  which  his  name 
had  not  been  presented,  Franklin  Pierce  was  nominated 
on  the  49th  ballot,  by  a  vote  of  282  to  11  for  all  others. 
The  nomination  was  a  surprise  to  the  country,  as  he  had 
never  been  publicly  spoken  of  for  the  position,  and  it 
was  regarded  as  one  of  those  unexplained  accidents  of 
which  history  is  so  full.  The  newspapers  of  the  day 
recounted  the  astonishment  of  Mr.  Pierce,  to  whom  a 
boy  brought  the  news  as  he  was  on  a  visit  to  Mt. 
Auburn  cemetery.  The  truth  is,  however,  it  was  the 
successful  culmination  of  an  arrangement  planned  by 


CALEB  OUSHING  41 

Mr.  Gushing,  General  Butler,  Paul  R.  George,  and  a 
few  others,  in  anticipation  of  a  deadlock  at  Baltimore, 
to  spring  Mr.  Pierce's  name  on  the  convention.  Mr. 
Gushing  had  several  times  visited  Mr.  Pierce  in  regard 
to  it,  and  leading  men  in  different  States  had  been  con 
ferred  with,  and  all  the  details  agreed  upon.  I  had  been 
told  this  long  since  by  men  familiar  with  the  inside  his 
tory  of  the  political  events  of  that  period,  but  all  have 
now  passed  away  who  were  actors.  Wishing  to  verify 
this  statement,  and  also  wishing  General  Butler's  opin 
ion  of  Mr.  Gushing,  whom  he  had  known  so  intimately, 
I  once  addressed  him  a  letter,  to  which  the  following 
is  his  reply,  and  is  of  value  as  explaining  an  important 
event  in  American  history,  not  before  understood  by 
the  public : 

BOSTON,  May  2,  1891. 

DEAR  SIR  My  professional  and  other  engagements  are  such 
that  I  cannot  go  into  any  discussion  worthy  of  General  Gushing, 
yourself,  or  myself,  as  to  his  great  endowments  as  a  lawyer,  and 
his  great  learning  and  ability  as  a  statesman.  I  hold  him  in  the 
highest  reverence. 

As  to  the  question  you  put  me  in  relation  to  the  nomination  of 
Gen.  Franklin  Pierce  as  President,  the  matter  was  fully  con 
sidered  by  the  three  gentlemen  you  name,  and  the  Hon.  Charles 
G.  Atherton,  and  the  Hon  Henry  A.  Wise,  of  Virginia,  immedi 
ately  after  the  death  of  Judge  Woodbury  in  1851,  and  the  means 
to  present  his  name  in  the  manner  it  was  presented  fully  deter 
mined  upon ;  so  that  while  the  presentation  of  General  Pierce's 
name  was  a  surprise  to  the  general  public,  it  was  not  to  the 
well  informed  and  active  members  of  the  convention  which 
nominated  him. 

I  am  very  truly  yours, 

BENJAMIN  F.  BUTLER. 

Many  circumstances  combined  to  make  the  election  of 


42  BIOGRAPHIC AL   AND   OTHEK   ARTICLES 

Mr.  Pierce  a  triumphant  one,  and  he  received  254  votes 
to  42  for  General  Scott.  On  the  formation  of  his  Cabi 
net,  one  of  great  ability,  and  the  only  one  in  our  history 
unbroken  during  a  whole  administration,  Mr.  Gushing 
was  made  Attorney-General. 

During  Pierce's  administration  the  anti-slavery  senti 
ment  was  continually  growing  stronger  in  the  North, 
intensified  by  the  troubles  in  Kansas,  the  attack  on  Mr. 
Sumner,  and  other  causes  not  now  to  be  entered  into. 
The  Republican  party,  just  formed  on  the  anti-slavery 
issue,  was  fast  gaining  control  of  the  North,  having 
absorbed  the  Whig  party,  and  drawn  largely  from  the 
Democratic.  The  great  moral  question  of  slavery  was 
debated  in  Congress,  and  at  the  fireside,  by  the  press  and 
the  pulpit,  in  all  its  aspects,  almost  to  the  exclusion  of 
every  other  subject,  and  the  historian  of  this  administra 
tion  will  discuss  it  more  with  reference  to  this  question 
than  any  other.  Many  difficult  questions  connected 
with  our  domestic  and  foreign  affairs  came  before  the 
law  department,  and  the  ability  with  which  they  were 
met  is  conceded.  The  opinions  of  Mr.  Gushing  while 
Attorney-General  fill  three  volumes  of  the  fifteen  up  to 
that  date,  and  no  less  an  authority  than  William  Beach 
Lawrence  said,  "  They  constitute  in  themselves  a  valua 
ble  body  of  international  law."  President  Pierce  stated 
that  however  able  Mr.  Gushing  was  in  his  department, 
he  was  equally  well  fitted  for  every  other  position  in  the 
Cabinet ;  and  it  is  said  that  when  a  question  arose  about 
which  all  the  other  members  were  in  doubt,  it  was  re 
ferred  with  confidence  to  Gushing. 

In  1857, 1858,  and  1859  he  was  a  member  of  the  Mas 
sachusetts  House  of  Representatives,  active  and  atteii- 


CALEB  GUSHING  43 

tive  to  all  his  duties.  A  memorable  debate  on  national 
affairs  occurred  between  him  and  the  late  John  A. 
Andrew. 

In  1860  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  Democratic  National 
Convention  at  Charleston,  S.C.,  was  chosen  its  president, 
and  was  one  of  the  seceders  that  met  at  Baltimore.  He 
supported  Breckenridge  as  the  only  Democratic  candidate 
who  could  hope  to  win.  President  Buchanan  sent  him  to 
Charleston  to  confer  with  the  secessionists,  but  with  no 
result.  The  "  irrepressible  conflict "  was  at  hand,  and 
as  we  look  back  upon  it,  sad  as  were  the  loss  of  life  and 
all  the  horrors  of  the  civil  war,  it  seems  the  only  way  by 
which  we  could  have  gained  that  great  blessing,  as 
all  North  and  South  now  regard  it,  —  the  abolition 
of  slavery. 

After  the  war  began  Mr.  Gushing  offered  his  services 
to  his  country,  as  he  had  before  done  in  the  Mexican 
war,  but  Governor  Andrew  for  reasons  satisfactory  to 
himself  declined  them.  But  Mr.  Gushing  never  knew 
what  it  was  to  be  idle,  and  his  time  was  fully  occupied 
in  important  cases,  as  one  of  the  recognized  leaders  of  the 
American  Bar.  The  different  departments  at  Washing 
ton  largely  demanded  his  valuable  services,  and  not  a 
few  high  officials  received  credit  to  which  he  was  en 
titled  for  able  papers  and  opinions. 

In  1866  Mr.  Gushing  was  appointed  one  of  three  com 
missioners  to  codify  the  laws  of  Congress,  and  in  1868 
was  sent  to  Bogota,  in  consequence  of  a  diplomatic 
difficulty.  General  Grant,  whose  friendship  for  him  and 
confidence  in  him  are  well  known,  appointed  him,  in  1872, 
one  of  the  counsel  to  settle  the  Alabama  claims  at  the 
Geneva  conference,  and  the  favorable  results  to  American 


44  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER   ARTICLES 

interests  were  largely  due  to  his  efforts.  He  could  speak 
French  fluently,  the  language  of  the  conference. 

In  1873,  when  the  Senate  had  refused  to  confirm 
Williams  as  Chief-Justice  on  the  ground  of  incompe 
tence,  General  Grant  nominated  Mr.  Gushing,  remarking, 
as  was  said,  that  he  would  nominate  one  whose  knowledge 
and  ability  they  could  not  question.  The  nomination 
was  withdrawn,  however,  through  the  efforts  of  a  son 
of  Newhuryport,  now  deceased.  In  1874  he  was  nom 
inated  and  confirmed  as  our  minister  to  Spain,  where  our 
relations  then  required  a  representative  of  peculiar  fitness, 
and  he  remained  there  till  1877.  This  was  his  last  public 
position,  the  remaining  years  of  his  life  being  devoted 
to  his  profession. 

Until  the  last  there  seemed  to  be  no  mental  decay, 
though  it  was  perceived  that  he  was  losing  physically 
that  power  of  endurance  that  had  ever  been  so  remark 
able.  When  he  became  conscious  of  disease,  he  consulted 
a  physician,  and  studied  medical  books,  to  learn  all  about 
his  case,  as  had  been  his  custom  on  every  subject.  Re 
alizing  how  little  could  be  done,  he  prepared  calmly  for 
the  end.  To  one  who  asked  about  his  health  he  replied, 
"  I  have  what  I  have  never  had  before,  seventy-nine 
years."  He  talked  but  little  about  himself,  and  preferred 
to  be  alone.  A  little  before  he  died,  he  requested  his 
friends  to  leave  him,  which  they  did,  supposing  he  wished 
to  sleep ;  and  when  they  again  entered  his  room  he  had 
passed  away.  He  died  Jan.  2,  1879.  Time  had  been 
very  gentle  with  his  external  appearance,  and  he  was  a 
handsome  man  to  the  last.  As  he  lay  in  his  casket  at 
the  funeral,  dressed  as  in  life,  with  the  sword  he  had  worn 
in  the  Mexican  war  by  his  side,  his  face  was  as  calm  and 


CALEB   GUSHING  45 

natural  as  if  in  sleep  ;  and  as  I  gazed  at  him,  I  could  but 
wonder  what  had  become  of  all  those  vast  acquisitions 
of  knowledge  that  had  been  stored  in  that  great  brain, 
now  so  cold  and  lifeless.  Many  of  his  old  friends  were 
there  to  pay  their  last  token  of  respect  to  his  memory, 
among  whom  was  General  Butler,  who  gazed  long  on  the 
remains  of  his  old  friend. 

This  condensed  abstract  of  his  life  —  for  to  speak  in 
detail  of  his  different  official  acts  and  the  prominent 
legal  cases  in  which  he  was  counsel  would  require  a 
volume,  instead  of  the  limited  space  of  a  personal  sketch 
—  shows  that  but  few  Americans  ever  filled  so  many  and 
so  distinguished  positions.  That  he  was  one  of  the  most 
learned  men  the  country  has  ever  produced  cannot  be 
doubted  —  learned  not  as  most  men  are  in  one  branch, 
nor  in  a  few,  but  in  almost  every  department  of  knowl 
edge;  and  in  nothing  was  he  superficial. 

One  of  his  most  marked  traits  was  his  industry. 
Thomas  H.  Benton  once  said  to  the  writer  that  he  thought 
himself  the  most  industrious  man  he  had  ever  known  in 
public  life  with  the  exception  of  John  Quincy  Adams. 
Yet  neither  of  these  men  was  more  industrious  than 
Caleb  Gushing.  After  his  return  from  his  early  visit  to 
Spain  he  was  blessed  with  good  health  and  a  remarkably 
vigorous  constitution,  and  would  toil  all  day  and  study 
or  journey  at  night,  and  never  seemed  to  know  fatigue. 
I  never  went  by  his  house  at  Newburyport,  when  he  was 
at  home,  be  it  ever  so  late,  that  I  did  not  see  a  light  in 
his  room ;  and  it  was  known  to  be  his  habit  to  work  till 
after  midnight,  then  throw  himself  on  a  lounge  for  a 
few  hours'  rest,  arid  at  daylight  resume  his  labor.  What 
ever  point  came  up,  however  trivial  apparently,  he  would 


46  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER   ARTICLES 

not  rest  till  he  was  satisfied.  A  bank  officer  said  that 
Mr.  Gushing  once  asked  him  what  name  was  given  to 
the  part  left  after  a  check  had  been  torn  from  a  check 
book,  and  he  could  not  inform  him.  A  few  days  after  he 
received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Gushing  with  the  single  word 
"  stub."  If  Mr.  Gushing  wished  for  information,  he  was 
not  above  seeking  it  from  every  source.  An  associate  in 
Washington  told  me  he  would  go  into  the  street  and  ask 
the  meanest-looking  negro,  if  in  that  way  he  could  learn 
what  he  wished  to  know.  His  thirst  for  knowledge  that 
might  be  useful  to  him  was  universal,  and  he  gave  away 
his  plants  because  they  drew  too  much  attention  from 
other  things.  He  was  omnivorous  in  his  reading.  I 
took  tea  with  him  at  the  house  of  his  niece  not  long  be 
fore  he  died,  and  during  the  conversation  he  turned  to  a 
niece  and  said,  "  Margaret,  I  see  the  ladies  are  to  wear 
so-and-so  the  coming  season,"  giving  in  detail  the  new 
fashions.  It  was  not  easy  to  start  a  topic  of  which  he 
was  ignorant.  When  Webster's  Unabridged  Dictionary 
first  appeared,  he  read  it  all  through,  word  by  word,  and 
corrected  its  mistakes. 

He  had  a  remarkably  retentive  memory,  that  never 
seemed  to  lose  what  it  had  once  gained.  Few  could  quote 
so  freely  and  accurately  from  ancient  and  modern  authors. 
His  speeches  are  full  of  classical  allusions,  and  show 
how  familiar  he  was  with  all  classes  of  literature.  His 
ready  memory  enabled  him  to  call  up  as  occasion  re 
quired  all  the  stores  of  his  long  and  eventful  life,  and 
this  made  him  a  formidable  antagonist.  This  power  made 
John  Quincy  Adams  so  much  dreaded  by  his  opponents 
in  debate  during  his  closing  years  in  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives.  What  others  knew  imperfectly  he  knew 


CALEB   GUSHING  47 

fully.  The  opportunities  of  both  these  men  had  been 
large  and  fully  improved,  and  it  would  be  difficult  to 
name  any  other  of  our  public  men  who  could  be  com 
pared  with  them  in  the  extent  of  their  acquirements. 

Mr.  Gushing  was  a  methodical  man  ;  every  paper  was 
in  its  place,  and  nothing  disturbed  him  more  than  to  have 
any  one  disarrange  the  order  of  his  office.  He  used  often 
to  speak  of  the  time  lost  by  many  from  a  want  of  this 
habit.  He  was  punctual  in  his  appointments.  A  Wash 
ington  real  estate  man  once  wished  to  show  him  a  piece 
of  property,  and  asked  at  what  hour  he  should  call  for 
him.  The  reply  was  at  five  the  next  morning.  The  man 
was  not  accustomed  to  such  early  hours,  but  was  advised 
by  one  who  knew  Mr.  Gushing  to  be  prompt ;  and  as  he 
drove  to  the  door  at  the  appointed  time,  Mr.  Gushing 
was  on  the  steps. 

^  Mr.  Gushing  excelled  as  a  linguist,  speaking  French, 
Spanish,  and  other  modern  languages  with  fluency,  and 
was  said  to  be  able  to  converse  with  all  the  foreign  min 
isters  at  Washington  in  their  own  tongue.  It  has  been 
stated  even  that  in  China  he  transacted  his  official  busi 
ness  without  the  aid  of  an  interpreter.  One  of  the  last 
times  I  saw  him  was  in  a  railway  car,  and  he  was  reading 
a  French  newspaper. 

Mr.  Gushing's  mind  was  so  well  disciplined  that  he 
could  at  once  arrange  his  thoughts  and  bring  his  knowl 
edge  to  bear  on  any  given  point.  Some  of  his  best 
efforts  were  extemporaneous,  in  reply  to  an  opponent, 
for  then  he  was  in  his  element.  The  Hon.  E.  F.  Stone, 
in  his  able  address  before  the  Essex  Bar,  has  given  an  in 
stance  where  some  one  in  the  Massachusetts  Legislature 
had  quoted  from  an  old  speech  to  show  his  inconsistency  : 


48  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER    ARTICLES 

"Gushing  was  uneasy  under  the  attack,  and  the 
moment  it  was  finished  he  sprang  to  the  floor,  and 
defended  himself  with  great  spirit  in  a  speech  of  about 
fifteen  minutes,  which  for  rapid,  overwhelming,  and 
powerful  declamation  was  never  surpassed  in  that  hall. 
The  effect  was  electrical.  The  House  and  gallery  broke 
out  in  the  most  tumultuous  applause,  which  the  Speaker 
tried  in  vain  to  suppress  ;  and  the  member  from  Monson, 
instead  of  scoring  a  point  against  Gushing,  suddenly 
found  himself  on  the  defensive,  and  was  glad  to  beat  a 
hasty  retreat  and  withdrew  from  the  field."  When 
able,  however,  he  prepared  his  speeches  with  care. 

As  a  speaker  Gushing  ranked  high.  He  was  choice 
in  use  of  language,  seeking  from  the  copious  vocabulary 
at  his  command  the  best  word  to  convey  his  meaning, 
sometimes  an  unusual  one.  He  had  a  power  of  clear 
statement,  so  effective  in  an  orator,  and  so  marked  a 
trait  in  Daniel  Webster.  His  sentences  were  well  con 
structed  and  vigorous  —  with  his  mind  they  could  not 
have  been  otherwise.  He  had  a  good  voice,  a  distinct 
enunciation,  spoke  slowly  unless  excited,  and  with 
much  emphasis,  and  held  the  attention  of  his  hearers. 
He  was  logical,  appealing  more  to  reason  than  to  pas 
sion.  He  was  persistent  to  the  end  in  whatever  he  en 
gaged. 

Mr.  Gushing  was  a  brave  man,  and  never  feared  an 
antagonist.  Shortly  after  he  entered  Congress,  an  old 
member  from  a  State  where  the  Code  was  recognized  as 
the  true  way  to  settle  difficulties,  and  who  had  made 
himself  feared,  attempted  to  browbeat  the  new  young 
member ;  but  Gushing  replied  in  a  way  that  called  out 
the  applause  of  the  House  and  galleries,  and  ended  by 


CALEB   GUSHING  49 

declaring  himself  responsible   for   his    words,  there  or 
elsewhere. 

Mr.  Gushing  was  called  a  cold  man.  He  was  not 
demonstrative,  and  certainly  had  but  little  of  that  "  mag 
netism  "  said  to  be  a  trait  of  some  public  men.  He  was 
naturally  retiring,  and  not  generally  social,  because  not 
caring  for  the  conversation  of  most  social  gatherings. 
He  had  but  little  of  what  is  called  "  small  talk."  A 
gentleman  at  whose  fireside  he  often  sat  said  he  would 
remain  silent,  absorbed  in  his  thoughts,  till  some  topic 
was  started  requiring  information,  or  leading  to  discus 
sion,  when  his  interest  would  be  aroused,  and  he  would 
talk  for  hours.  He  was  accessible,  kind,  freely  giving 
advice  to  his  friends  and  neighbors  in  their  troubles ; 
and  when  he  joined,  as  he  often  did,  in  their  fishing  ex 
cursions,  he  was  one  of  the  most  agreeable  of  compan 
ions,  and  laughed  and  joked  with  the  merriest.  A 
lady  said  to  me  that  the  only  time  she  ever  called  at  his 
home  he  took  her  over  his  house,  and  in  one  room  he 
had  preserved  every  little  thing  that  had  been  his 
mother's  —  surely  not  an  evidence  of  a  cold  heart.  In 
his  habits  he  was  simple,  abstemious,  indifferent  to  food, 
dress,  and  outward  display. 

Mr.  Gushing  was  reproached  as  not  enough  in  sym 
pathy  with  the  great  reforms  of  the  day,  especially  with 
the  anti-slavery  sentiment.  In  1836  Henry  A.  Wise 
threatened  in  Congress  to  plant  slavery  in  the  North, 
and  in  an  indignant  speech  Mr.  Gushing  replied :  "  You 
may  raze  to  the  earth  the  thronged  cities,  the  industrious 
villages,  the  peaceful  hamlets  of  the  North ;  you  may 
plant  its  soil  with  salt,  and  consign  it  to  everlasting 
desolation ;  you  may  transform  its  beautiful  fields  into 


50  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER    ARTICLES 

a  desert  as  bare  as  Sahara.  .  .  .  But  I  assure  every 
gentleman  within  the  sound  of  my  voice,  you  shall  not 
introduce  slavery  into  the  North."  He  was  a  lawyer, 
however,  and  had  been  a  judge,  and  from  his  whole 
training  had  been  accustomed  to  look  at  the  legal 
aspects  of  every  question;  and  for  that  reason  he, 
Daniel  Webster,  and  other  statesmen  of  that  period 
opposed  the  abolition  agitation  as  against  the  Constitu 
tion  which  they  had  sworn  to  obey.  They  took  the 
ground  that  the  North  had  consented  to  recognize 
slavery  to  gain  the  Union,  and  however  opposed  to  its 
existence,  the  compact  should  be  observed  by  the  North 
as  much  with  regard  to  slavery  as  to  every  other  pro 
vision.  With  the  leaders  of  the  abolition  movement  it 
was  the  "  higher  law  "  of  justice  and  humanity  they 
were  bound  to  obey,  and  not  the  Constitution,  —  that, 
as  some  of  them  declared,  was  a  "  league  with  hell," 
—  and  they  justified  the  invasion  of  John  Brown,  and 
made  a  hero  of  him.  I  once  heard  Wendell  Phillips 
say  in  an  impassioned  speech,  —  and  America  has  pro 
duced  but  few  such  wonderful  orators,  —  after  Massa 
chusetts,  in  obedience  to  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  had 
returned  a  slave,  "  God  damn  the  Commonwealth  of 
Massachusetts  ;  "  and  in  a  speech  after  the  war  began, 
he  said  that  when  he  heard  of  the  attack  on  Fort  Sum- 
ter,  in  his  joy  he  threw  his  hat  as  high  in  the  air  as  he 
could  throw  it,  knowing  that  by  war  only  could  slavery 
be  abolished.  The  most  eloquent  speeches  of  Webster, 
Choate,  and  other  orators  of  that  period  were  on  the  value 
of  the  Union.  Mr.  Gushing  felt  as  they  did,  and  in  a 
Fourth  of  July  oration  delivered  at  Newburyport,  in  1850, 
on  the  occasion  of  laying  the  corner  stone  of  the  new  City 


CALEB   GUSHING  51 

Hall,  the  Union  was  his  topic.  After  depicting  the 
blessings  of  the  Union,  the  calamities  that  would  follow 
disunion,  the  dangers  to  which  the  Union  was  exposed, 
and  urging  his  hearers  faithfully  to  observe  and  main 
tain  both  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  Constitution,  he 
closed  thus  : 

"  The  living  men  who  uttered  the  Declaration  of  In 
dependence  have  all  passed  away  from  time  to  eternity. 
But  their  spirits  watch  over  us  from  the  bright  spheres 
to  which  they  have  ascended.  We  stand  in  their  pres 
ence.  They  shall  be  our  witnesses  as  we  solemnly 
renew  this  day  our  vows  of  unalterable  attachment  to 
the  Union,  and  that 

"  '  .     .     .     nor  steel,  nor  poison, 

Malice  domestic,  foreign  levy,  nothing  ' 

shall  prevail  against  it,  and  to  this  we  pledge  our 
lives,  our  fortunes,  and  our  sacred  honor,  so  help  us 
God ! " 

When  Mr.  Gushing  dismissed  the  Democratic  Con 
vention  at  Charleston,  his  last  words  were :  "  I  pray 
you,  gentlemen,  in  returning  to  your  constituents  and 
the  bosom  of  your  families,  to  take  with  you  as  your 
guiding  thought  the  sentiment,  —  the  Constitution  and 
the  Union." 

As  the  theme  for  Fourth  of  July  eloquence  the  pres 
ervation  of  the  Union  and  the  danger  of  a  dissolution 
can  no  longer  be  used.  No  one  fears  now ;  the  crisis 
has  been  passed,  the  great  cause  of  bitterness  between 
the  North  and  the  South  has  been  removed,  and  both 
sections  are  glad.  But  this  generation,  looking  back 
ward,  can  hardly  realize  how  dark  the  future  of  their 


52  BIOGRAPHIC AL   AND    OTHER   ARTICLES 

country  seemed  to  many  honest  men  a  few  years  before 
the  war,  and  how  they  dreaded  a  sectional  conflict. 

Mr.  Gushing  was  called  ambitious.  So  were  Daniel 
Webster,  Henry  Clay,  and  a  long  list  of  prominent  men 
of  the  past;  and  now  almost  every  young  talented 
American  expects  to  be  President,  —  and  with  some 
reason,  in  the  light  of  our  past  history.  Yet  he  cer 
tainly  followed  his  convictions  more  than  pure  ambition 
in  his  career,  or  often  he  would  have  adopted  a  different 
course ;  would  have  abandoned  old  ideas,  and  followed 
the  drift  of  public  opinion,  as  did  other  prominent 
Massachusetts  men,  to  their  great  personal  advantage. 

His  personal  integrity  no  one  ever  questioned  —  a 
rare  virtue  in  a  public  man,  as  we  have  learned  by  many 
modern  examples.  He  was  indifferent  to  money,  and 
disregarded  it  in  his  public  and  professional  service. 

He  was  called  a  partisan.  If  to  be  a  partisan  means 
to  follow  one's  party  blindly,  he  was  too  independent, 
too  strong  in  his  own  opinions,  to  be  one.  He  was  born 
more  to  command  than  to  obey ;  to  be  a  leader  rather 
than  a  follower ;  to  impress  his  own  views  on  others, 
not  to  receive  theirs.  If  he  had  been  a  devoted  partisan 
he  would  have  followed  Henry  Clay  rather  than  the 
fortunes  of  John  Tyler,  by  which  he  lost  the  favor  of 
New  England.  Then  if  he  had  joined  the  Republican 
party,  as  most  Northern  Whigs  did,  as  intimated  before, 
it  is  not  easy  to  predict  to  what  a  position  he  might  not 
have  risen.  He  must  be  credited  with  sincerity  in  his 
action,  or  he  showed  far  less  practical  wisdom  than  most 
men  are  supposed  to  possess.  He  lived  at  a  time  when 
but  little  charity  was  shown  for  difference  of  action  or 
opinion,  and  when  men  who  had  freely  exposed  their 


CALEB   GUSHING  53 

lives  for  their  country,  and  were  willing  to  do  it  again, 
were  denounced  as  its  most  dangerous  foes  by  men  who 
had  shunned  the  battle-field  and  whose  only  devotion 
during  the  war  had  been  to  themselves.  Few  have  even 
justice  from  their  own  generation  —  that  it  is  the  duty 
of  posterity  to  render. 

The  death  of  Mr.  Gushing  called  out  a  general  feeling 
of  regret  all  over  the  country.  He  had  for  years  with 
drawn  from  party  politics,  and  his  learning  and  legal 
ability  and  experience  had  been  devoted  to  the  govern 
ment  at  a  time  when  they  were  specially  needed,  and  all 
had  recognized  their  value.  At  many  gatherings  lead 
ing  men  were  glad  to  bear  testimony  to  his  great  quali 
ties.  At  a  meeting  at  Washington  called  to  pay  respect 
to  his  memory,  the  late  lamented  and  brilliant  Richard 
S.  Spofford,  —  who  had  been  more  intimately  associated 
with  him,  probably,  than  any  other  man  for  a  quarter  of 
a  century,  —  after  speaking  of  those  "  superb  attain 
ments  and  powers  that  made  him  second  to  none  among 
publicists  and  statesmen,"  continued :  "  When  in  a  later 
age  some  great  orator  of  the  Republic,  the  Pericles  of 
its  meridian  splendor,  or,  if  that  is  inevitable,  the  De 
mosthenes  of  its  declining  period,  here  in  this  grandest 
of  Capitols,  shall  revert  to  our  times  and  recount  their 
history,  few  names  upon  the  roll  of  our  civic  fame  will 
seem  to  him  and  those  whom  lie  addresses  more  illustri 
ous  than  his  in  honor  of  whom  we  are  assembled.  .  .  . 
By  all  will  it  then  be  clearly  recognized  that  the  true 
rank  to  be  assigned  to  him  is  that  of  one  among  the 
greatest  of  statesmen,  the  most  learned  of  lawyers,  the 
most  patriotic  of  citizens,  the  most  accomplished  of 
men ;  and  that,  occupying  this  pre-eminent  position,  so 


54  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

great  and  valuable  were  his  public  services  that  it  may 
truthfully  be  said  that  in  his  day  and  generation  he  was 
one  of  the  pillars  of  the  Republic." 

Robert  C.  Winthrop,  whose  praise  is  always  golden, 
before  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  after  enu 
merating  his  great  services,  said :  "  He  has  certainly 
gone  through  as  great  a  variety  of  responsible  and  con 
spicuous  public  services  as  has  ever,  I  think,  fallen  to 
the  lot  of  a  Massachusetts  man.  .  .  .  Differing  from 
him  far  more  frequently  than  I  could  agree  with  him, 
and  by  no  means  prejudiced  in  his  favor,  I  was  all  the 
more  a  trustworthy  witness  of  his  varied  ability,  his  vast 
acquirements,  his  unwearied  application,  and  his  force 
and  skill  as  a  writer  and  speaker.  Nor  can  I  forget  the 
many  amiable  traits  of  his  character,  which  prevented 
differences  of  opinion  or  of  party  from  sundering  the 
ties  of  social  intercourse.  He  knew  how  to  abandon  a 
policy  or  quit  a  party  without  quarrelling  with  those 
whom  he  left  behind." 

The  late  Charles  W.  Tuttle,  whose  early  death  was 
so  much  regretted,  and  who  was  in  the  same  law  office 
with  Mr.  Gushing  for  some  years,  once  said :  "  Mr. 
Gushing  was  endowed  with  extraordinary  intellectual 
powers,  with  an  uncommonly  fine  physique,  and  a  vig 
orous  constitution.  Externally  Nature  had  stamped 
him  as  a  man  of  distinguished  character.  Such  was  the 
versatility  of  his  talents  that  he  could  master  with  equal 
facility  any  subject.  Had  he  so  determined,  he  could 
have  gone  down  to  posterity  one  of  the  greatest  scien 
tists  or  the  great  philologist  of  the  age,  as  he  was  a 
great  jurist  and  statesman.  His  capacity  and  equally 
great  memory,  his  unwearied  industry,  his  scorn  of  de- 


CALEB   GUSHING  55 

light,  and  love  of  laborious  days,  enabled  him  to  conquer 
all  knowledge.  I  know  of  no  subject  of  intellectual 
contemplation  that  lay  outside  the  range  of  his  medita 
tion  and  study.  Like  Bacon,  he  took  all  knowledge  for 
his  province." 

Hugh  McCulloch,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  under 
Lincoln,  Johnson,  and  Arthur,  in  his  very  interesting 
volume,  recently  published,  "  Men  and  Measures  of  Half 
a  Century,"  in  giving  his  impressions  of  Edward 
Everett,  says :  "  He  was  perhaps  the  finest  classical 
scholar  of  the  day,  the  greatest  linguist  that  ever  went 
to  Congress,  except  Caleb  Gushing.  It  was  said  of  Mr. 
Gushing  that  he  could  translate  all  the  European  lan 
guages.  While  in  Congress  there  came  to  the  State 
Department  a  document  that  no  one  in  the  department 
could  interpret.  Upon  the  suggestion  of  some  one  who 
had  heard  of  Mr.  Cushing's  reputation  as  a  linguist,  it 
was  sent  to  him,  and  he  translated  it  without  difficulty. 
Mr.  Gushing  was  a  ready  and  effective  speaker,  and  a 
very  able  and  learned  lawyer.  He  was  one  of  the  few 
men  whose  voice  could  be  heard  in  the  old  House  of 
Representatives,  and  who  never  spoke  without  com 
manding  the  attention  of  the  members." 

Hon.  Horatio  G.  Parker,  of  the  Suffolk  Bar,  was  in  a 
position  to  form  a  clear  judgment  of  Mr.  Gushing,  and 
by  request  has  written  out  his  opinion  of  him : 

"You  have  asked  me  in  a  few  words  to  give  some 
idea  of  that  eminent  man  Caleb  Gushing  as  a  lawyer. 

"  He  was  in  form  and  feature  a  fine  specimen  of 
manly  beauty,  power,  and  elegance. 

"  At  the  bar  he  always  showed  that  he  was  perfectly 
familiar  with  the  facts  and  law  of  his  case,  showing  as 


66  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

thorough  preparation  as  industry  could  give.  His  man 
ner  in  examining  witnesses  was  plain  and  direct,  but 
very  searching,  and  you  felt  when  he  left  a  witness  that 
the  examination,  whether  direct  or  cross,  had  accom 
plished  its  intended  and  perfect  work. 

44  In  addressing  a  jury,  he  was  quiet  and  clear,  very 
attractive,  and  when  occasion  required,  bold,  powerful, 
and  rising  to  the  height  of  eloquence. 

"  He  was  accomplished  in  every  duty  a  lawyer  could 
be  called  upon  to  perform.  Whether  to  draft  a  statute, 
write  an  argument,  preside  at  a  jury  trial,  or  decide  and 
write  opinions  upon  cases  before  the  full  court,  he  was 
equally  competent  and  ready.  He  had  attainments 
which  enabled  him  to  do  what  very  few  lawyers  could. 
I  very  well  recollect  seeing  him  dictate  an  opinion  in  a 
Mexican  land-grant  case  to  three  amanuenses  at  once, 
—  one  writing  English,  one  French,  and  one  Spanish. 
He  easily  kept  the  three  busy. 

"  As  an  instance  of  his  grasp  of  principles  of  law  and 
ability  to  frame  concisely  a  statute  which  should  accom 
plish  a  broad  and  deeply  reaching  change  in  the  law  of 
real  estate,  Chapter  29  of  the  Acts  of  Massachusetts  for 
the  year  1852  may  be  cited.  The  Act  reads  :  4  Aliens 
may  take,  hold,  convey,  and  transmit  real  estate.'  I  was 
told  by  a  member  of  the  State  Senate  at  the  time  that 
Caleb  Gushing  drew  the  Act.  The  statute  now  exists 
in  the  same  words  in  Public  Statutes  of  Massachusetts, 
Chapter  126,  Section  1. 

"  The  statute  has  never  been  amended,  and  the  Court 
has  never  been  called  upon  to  construe  it  further  than 
to  say  that  it  applies  to  aliens  resident  abroad. 

"  Mr.  Gushing  sat  Upon  the  bench  in  Massachusetts 


CALEB   GUSHING  57 

Only  from  May  22,  1852  to  March  7,  1853,  when  he  re 
signed  to  accept  the  position  of  Attorney-General  of  the 
United  States  in  the  Cabinet  of  General  Pierce.  He 
entered  upon  his  duties  as  Judge  as  one  fully  equipped, 
t\nd  performed  them  with  such  ease,  naturalness,  and 
success  as  to  command  the  approval,  respect,  and  admira 
tion  of  all. 

"His  opinion  in  Popkin  et  al.  vs.  Sargent  et  al.,  10 
Gush.  327,  may  perhaps  be  referred  to  as  a  model  of 
what  an  opinion  may  be  in  soundness  of  law  and  clear 
ness  and  grace  of  expression.  The  case  is  upon  the 
construction  of  a  will,  and  is  a  wonderful  expression  of 
the  cardinal  principle  that  in  the  construction  of  a  will 
the  intention  of  the  testator  must  govern,  while  at  the 
same  time  the  circumstances  surrounding  the  testator, 
as  well  as  the  testator's  peculiarities  and  views,  should 
be  learned  and  considered  in  ascertaining  that  intention. 

"  It  is  an  admirable  statement  of  the  law,  and  a  most 
lucid  illustration  of  applying  law  to  conditions  and  cir 
cumstances  to  be  either  strengthened  or  tempered 
thereby.  No  one  would  go  far  astray  in  the  principles 
of  construing  a  will  who  should  first  read  the  opinion  in 
Popkin  et  al.  vs.  Sargent  et  al. 

"  How  Mr.  Gushing  succeeded  as  Attorney-General 
is  sufficiently  attested  by  the  volumes  of  his  opinions, 
and  the  comments  made  upon  them  by  eminent  jurists 
of  this  and  other  countries. 

"  But  the  lawyer  is  only  one  phase  of  Mr.  Gushing, 
and  the  most  eminent  lawyers  seldom  do  more  than 
write  their  names  in  water. 

"  I  had  the  highest  regard  for  and  confidence  in  Mr. 
Cushing's  ability,  integrity,  and  patriotism.  It  is  well 


58  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER   ARTICLES 

known  what  confidence  those  in  authority  placed  in  him 
during  the  war,  and  how  often  they  availed  themselves 
of  his  gifts,  accomplishments,  and  abilities  during  our 
darkest  days.  I  heard  him  say  at  nearly  the  end  of  the 
war  that  he  considered  the  way  in  which  the  Administra 
tion  had  kept  up  the  courage  and  confidence  of  the 
people  and  had  availed  itself  of  the  resources  of  the 
country  as  worthy  of  much  praise." 

The  relations  of  Mr.  Gushing  with  Daniel  Webster 
were  very  intimate,  and  lie  often  rendered  his  friend  aid 
in  the  way  it  was  not  infrequently  asked.  The  seventy- 
seventh  birthday  of  the  great  statesman  was  celebrated, 
Jan.  18,  1859,  by  his  friends  at  Boston,  when  Mr.  Gush 
ing  presided,  and  speeches  were  made  by  Rufus  Choate 
and  others.  Some  extracts  are  given  from  his  speech  on 
that  occasion  .as  a  good  specimen  of  his  style  ;  as  an 
indication,  also,  of  how  strongly  Mr.  Webster  impressed 
his  contemporaries : 

"  We,  friends,  associates,  admirers  of  Webster,  assem 
ble  on  his  birthday,  not  to  mourn  him  dead  in  the  silent 
grave  where  his  mortal  body  lies  interred,  but  to  rejoice 
in  the  immortality  of  his  glory,  to  honor  him  as  living 
still,  with  all  his  native  majesty  and  strength  of  linea 
ment  and  proportions,  in  our  hearts,  in  the  veneration  of 
his  countrymen,  in  the  respect  and  honor  of  the  world. 

"  '  Death  makes  no  conquest  of  this  conqueror, 
For  now  he  lives  in  fame,  though  not  in  life.' 

"  '  Quicquid  ex  Agricola  amavimus,  quicquid  mirati  su- 
mus  manent,  mansurumque  est,  in  animis  hominum,  in 
aeternitate  temporum,  fama  rerum.'  To  the  commemora 
tion  of  all  this  we  have  dedicated  ourselves  this  evening ; 


CALEB   GUSHING  59 

and  fitly  we  do  so,  gathered  around  this  flower-decked 
board,  with  harmonies  of  the  eye  and  ear  to  animate  us, 
and  with  '  feast  of  reason '  to  crown  that  of  sense,  - 
as  in  the  Athenian  or  Roman  days  men  sat  at  the  ban 
quet  table  with  garlanded  images  of  their  honored  dead 
on  the  seats  beside  them,  in  revivified  presence,  as  it 
were,  so  —  their  souls  overflowing  with  speech  and  song 
—  to  celebrate  the  memory  of  the  heroic  persons  of  the 
Republic.  .  .  . 

"  My  own  respect,  admiration,  and  attachment  for 
Webster,  beginning  at  an  early  date,  and  acquiring  new 
strength  with  every  day  of  a  constant  and  most  confi 
dential  intimacy  through  life,  settled  down  into  that  con 
dition  of  mind  regarding  him  which  rightly  belongs  to  the 
contemplation  of  one  of  Plutarch's  men.  Plow  it  would 
startle  and  move  us,  if  Demosthenes  were  to  step  out 
from  behind  the  curtained  shadows  of  history,  to  rouse 
the  fierce  democracy  of  another  Greece  against  the  am 
bition  of  another  Philip ;  or  a  Cicero,  in  his  ample  robe 
and  purple-bordered  tunic,  hurling  his  consular  anathe 
mas  at  Catiline,  or  pouring  forth  his  senatorial  invectives 
on  the  head  of  Mark  Antony.  Yet  have  we  not  all 
heard  and  seen  this  ?  Ay,  but  we  may  have  heard  it  as 
though  hearing  it  not,  and  seen  it  as  though  seeing  it 
not.  Just  as  the  infinite  and  eternal  God  is  with  us 
always,  though  invisible  but  in  his  works,  so  God's  vice 
gerents  on  earth,  to  whom  he  has  vouchsafed  the  gift 
of  genius,  of  wisdom,  and  of  eloquence,  and  whom  he 
has  thus  delegated  and  sent  to  be  the  world's  leaders,  are 
with  us  ;  and  them  we  see,  them  we  elbow  in  the  streets, 
them  we  hear  of  carelessly  in  the  senate,  the  council 
chamber,  or  the  field.  Then  we  come  at  length  to  know, 


60  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER  ARTICLES 

as  one  of  them  leaves  the  earth  to  its  fate  and  ascends  to 
his  congenial  heaven,  and  we  then  see,  perchance  too 
late,  by  the  long  train  of  light  which  illumines  his  up 
ward  path,  that  a  demi-god  and  not  a  man  had  been 
with  us  the  while,  working  out  with  strong  will  the  in 
scrutable  providences  of  the  Almighty.  It  may  be,  and 
it  often  is,  that  the  scales  of  inadvertence  fall  from  our 
eyes  long  before  the  hero  man  is  transfigured  by  death ; 
it  may  be,  and  often  is,  that  not  before  then  does  he  rise 
up  from  the  dust  into  which  he  has  been  overwhelmed 
and  borne  down  by  the  brute  weight  and  stolid  mass  of 
our  passions  and  prejudices.  Sometimes  he  is  a  Wash 
ington,  and  the  world  bows  down  at  once  in  deferential 
reverence  before  its  foremost  in  virtue  and  glory ;  some 
times  he  is  a  Prometheus,  chained  to  Caucasian  cliffs  in 
resentment  for  the  good  he  has  done,  or  a  Samson  Ago- 
nistes  in  the  work-house  of  the  Philistines.  And  so  in 
this  hurly-burly  of  life,  the  world's  ears  filled  with  disso 
nant  cries  as  of  the  multitudinous  voices  of  the  sea,  men 
come  and  go,  with  various  fortune  or  estimation,  accord 
ing  as  the  lights  or  shadows  of  time  fall  upon  their  path 
way  and  their  persons.  Yet  that  Webster  was  one  of 
those  predestined  men  of  history,  none  who  saw  him, 
either  in  his  public  or  private  manifestations,  none  who 
knew  him,  could  doubt.  I  certainly  never  did ;  and  it 
was  a  source  of  never-failing  interest  to  me  to  witness, 
in  life,  the  working  of  that  great  spirit,  gigantic  in  force 
and  sublime  in  virtue,  despite  all  its  infirmities,  as  it 
now  is  to  contemplate  him  in  death,  with  his  traits  soft 
ened  by  time  and  distance,  and  yet  brightened  into  dis 
tinctness  by  the  reflected  rays  of  a  beam  of  light  from 
the  celestial  splendors  of  the  throne  of  God." 


CALEB  GUSHING  61 

In  this  same  speech  Mr.  Gushing  states  that  Mr. 
Webster  and  himself  constantly  conferred  together  in 
their  common  adherence  to  President  Tyler. 

Mr.  Cushing's  publications  were  "  History  of  the  Town 
of  Newburyport"  (1826);  "Practical  Principles  of 
Political  Economy  "  (1826)  ;  "  Review  of  the  Late  Revo 
lution  in  France  "  (1833)  ;  "  Reminiscences  of  Spain  " 
(1833)  ;  "  Growth  and  Territorial  Progress  of  the  United 
States  "  (1839)  ;  "  Life  of  William  H.  Harrison  "  (1840)  ; 
"  The  Treaty  of  Washington  "  (1873),  and  many  speeches 
and  addresses.  Of  these  by  far  the  most  important  is 
"  The  Treaty  of  Washington,"  by  which  the  different 
questions  at  issue  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States,  and  especially  the  Alabama  claims,  were  settled, 
and  which  are  fully  discussed  by  one  who  took  a 
leading  part,  and  was  thoroughly  informed  of  all  the 
facts.  To  the  historian  this  work  will  be  invaluable. 
The  American  side  is  presented  ably,  and  with  the 
warmth  of  an  advocate,  for  the  author  was  intensely 
American  in  his  feelings.  The  importance  of  this  treaty 
is  shown  in  the  following  extract : 

"  We  have  gained  the  vindication  of  our  rights  as  a 
government ;  the  redress  of  wrong  done  to  our  citizens ; 
the  political  prestige  in  Europe  and  America  of  the  en 
forcement  of  our  rights  against  the  most  powerful  state 
of  Christendom ;  the  elevation  of  maxims  of  right  and 
justice  into  the  judgment-seat  of  the  world ;  the  recog 
nition  of  our  theory  and  policy  of  neutrality  by  Great 
Britain ;  the  honorable  conclusion  of  a  long-standing  con 
troversy,  and  the  extinction  of  a  cause  of  war  between 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States;  and  the  moral 
authority  of  having  accomplished  these  great  objects 


62  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER    ARTICLES 

without  war,  by  peaceful  means,  by  appeals  to  conscience 
and  to  reason,  through  the  arbitrament  of  a  high  inter 
national  tribunal." 

According  to  Mr.  Cushing's  request,  he  was  buried 
by  the  side  of  the  wife  from  whom  he  had  been  so  long 
separated,  and  to  whose  memory  he  had  been  devoted. 
His  grave  is  on  the  highest  point  of  the  old  cemetery  at 
Newburyport,  overlooking  a  place  that  had  been  his 
home  for  nearly  four-score  years,  and  that  had  been  dear 
to  him.  Surely  it  can  be  said  of  him  for  his  services  to 
his  country,  as  was  said  of  honored  men  in  the  days  of 
Rome,  "  De  republica  bene  meruit" 


REV.  STEPHEN   PEABODY  AND   WIFE 

OF  ATKINSON,  NEW  HAMPSHIRE 
AN  OLD-TIME  PASTOR 


"  A  man  he  was  to  all  the  country  dear, 
And  passing  rich  on  forty  pounds  a  year." 

GOLDSMITH. 

IN  the  general  attention  now  given  to  the  men  and 
customs  of  a  century  ago,  an  old-time  pastor  and  his 
wife  deserve  special  recognition. 

Rev.  Stephen  Peabody,  the  first  settled  minister  of 
Atkinson,  N.H.,  was  born  in  Aridover,  Nov.  11,  1741. 
He  was  a  descendant  of  Lieut.  Francis  Peabody,  who 
came  to  this  country  in  the  "  Planter  "  in  1635.  He 
was  the  son  of  John  and  Sarah  (Ingalls)  Peabody.  He 
was  graduated  from  Harvard  College  in  1769,  a  class 
mate  of  Theophilus  Parsons.  He  was  a  poor  boy,  and 
used  to  tell  in  after  life  of  his  struggles  to  obtain  an 
education,  earning  his  board  at  college  by  waiting  on 
the  table,  and  carrying  with  him  from  home  the  linen  he 
needed  during  the  term,  which  his  loving  sisters  had 
laundered.  He  was  twenty-eight  years  old  at  gradua 
tion,  the  pater  omnium  of  his  class,  and  it  was  not  a  little 
to  his  credit  that  his  age  did  not  alter  his  resolve  to  ob 
tain  an  education.  Having  fixed  upon  the  ministry  for 
his  profession,  he  studied  in  the  family  of  a  minister,  for 


64  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

it  was  before  the  day  of  theological  seminaries,  and  de 
frayed  his  expenses  by  working  on  a  farm  and  teaching 
school. 

He  was  ordained  at  Atkinson  as  pastor  Nov.  25,  1772. 
This  town  was  a  part  of  land  purchased  of  the  Indians 
by  the  inhabitants  of  Pentucket,  now  Haverhill,  Mass., 
and  set  off  into  New  Hampshire  as  a  part  of  Plaistow, 
and  had  been  separated  from  that  town  and  incor 
porated  Sept.  3,  1767,  five  years  before  the  settlement 
of  Mr.  Peabody.  It  seems  strange  to  this  generation 
to  learn  that  the  reason  for  the  separation  was  that 
the  people  might  have  their  own  church  and  minis 
ter.  In  their  application  to  the  legislature  for  an  act 
of  incorporation,  the  petitioners  state :  "  That  by  rea 
son  of  the  great  distance  of  their  dwellings  from  the 
meeting-house  they  undergo  many  and  great  difficulties 
in  attending  the  public  worship  of  Almighty  God  there, 
and  that  the  said  meeting-house  is  not  large  enough  to 
accommodate  more  than  half  the  inhabitants  of  said 
town."  At  that  period,  as  is  well  known,  the  church 
was  an  institution  of  the  town ;  the  town  as  a  corpora 
tion  was  holden  for  the  support  of  the  minister ;  and 
each  citizen  was  assessed  for  the  support  of  religious 
worship,  as  for  other  expenses. 

The  small  salary  offered  Mr.  Peabody  well  illustrates 
the  economy  of  the  times.  The  record  is  as  follows: 
"  Voted,  To  give  Mr.  Stephen  Peabody  one  hundred  and 
sixty  pounds,  lawful  money,  as  a  settlement,  upon  con 
dition  that  the  salary  begin  at  sixty-six  pounds,  thirteen 
shillings  and  four  pence,  lawful  money,  the  first  year, 
and  add  on  forty  shillings  per  year  till  it  amounts  to 
eighty  pounds  per  year." 


REV.    STEPHEN   PEABODY   AND   WIFE  65 

"  Voted,  To  give  Mr.  Stephen  Peabody  ten  cords  of 
wood  per  year  so  long  as  he  carries  on  the  work  of  a 
ministry  in  Atkinson."  No  increase  was  ever  made  in 
this  salary  during  his  long  ministry. 

The  people  used  to  settle  their  tax  individually  with 
the  minister,  with  most  of  whom  he  had  running  ac 
counts  for  articles  furnished,  or  services  rendered,  and 
at  the  close  of  the  year  his  cash  receipts  were  often  very 
small,  as  can  well  be  imagined.  He  was  settled  for  life, 
as  was  the  old  custom,  and  remained  with  his  people 
forty-seven  years.  In  Hampstead,  an  adjoining  town,  a 
contemporary,  Rev.  John  Kelly,  whom  many  now  living 
remember,  was  pastor  of  his  church  fifty-six  years.  The 
ministerial  itineracy  of  a  later  period  was  unknown. 
Soon  after  his  settlement  the  Revolutionary  war  began, 
and  he  entered  Poor's  regiment  as  chaplain,  for  he  was  a 
brave  man  and  a  patriot. 

And  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  here  to  say,  that  in 
praising  and  honoring  those  who  fought  in  the  war  of 
1861-65,  we  should  not  forget  the  soldiers  of  the  Revo 
lution  who  endured  hardships  to  which  soldiers  now  are 
strangers,  with  no  motive  but  pure  patriotism  to  draw 
them  into  the  service.  At  the  beginning  of  the  Revolu 
tionary  war  the  Continental  Congress  sent  the  following 
circular  for  signatures,  which  deserves  to  be  more  gene 
rally  known  to  this  generation :  "  We,  the  subscribers, 
do  hereby  solemnly  engage  and  promise  that  we  will  to 
the  utmost  of  our  power,  at  the  risk  of  our  lives  and  for 
tunes,  with  arms,  oppose  the  hostile  proceedings  of  the 
British  fleets  and  armies  against  the  United  American 
Colonies."  Every  male  citizen  of  Atkinson,  ninety- 
seven  in  all,  signed  this  pledge.  In  the  last  war  the 


66  BIOGRAPHICAL,   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

town  in  filling  its  quota  was  obliged  to  pay  many  sol 
diers  eight  hundred  dollars  each,  as  bounty,  to  induce 
them  to  enlist. 

On  his  return  to  his  people  Mr.  Peabody  discharged 
faithfully  all  the  duties  of  his  pastorate,  and  they  were 
many  and  varied.  He  must  preach  two  sermons  on  the 
Sabbath,  for  in  those  days  of  few  books  and  papers  the 
sermons  gave  food  for  thought  and  discussion  during  the 
week.  They  were  long  sermons,  too,  and  the  people 
were  not  tired  of  listening,  though  seated  in  a  cold  church 
never  warmed,  and  on  hard  seats  with  no  cushions.  All 
attended  church,  for  it  was  not  respectable  to  do  secular 
work  or  seek  amusement  on  the  Sabbath.  The  prayer 
meetings  at  which  he  was  expected  to  be  present  were 
more  numerous  and  better  attended  than  now,  and  more 
pastoral  visits  must  be  made. 

Mr.  Peabody  kept  a  diary,  simply  a  record  of  what  he 
did  each  day,  without  a  reflection  or  any  statement  that 
did  not  relate  to  himself,  written  in  a  fine  hand  and  con 
densed.  That  for  1783  has  been  preserved,  and  throws 
much  light  on  the  life  of  a  clergyman  at  that  period. 
Some  entries  will  be  given. 

"  Oct.  3.  Catechised  the  children  at  John  Dustin's." 
All  the  children  must  be  taught  the  Westminster  Cate 
chism,  and  from  Sunday  to  Sunday  the  pastor  would 
give  notice  what  families  would  be  visited  during  the 
week  "  to  catechise  the  children,"  and  question  them  on 
the  points  of  doctrine  found  in  that  little  book,  once  so 
revered,  now  hardly  known.  At  the  appointed  time  the 
children  would  be  gathered  in  the  best  room,  dressed  in 
their  Sunday  clothes,  with  clean  faces,  to  receive  their 
spiritual  teacher,  and  when  each  child  answered  readily 


REV.    STEPHEN   PEABODY   AND   WIFE  67 

every  question,  beginning  with  "  What  is  the  chief  end 
of  man?  "  and  the  pastor  commended  the  faithfulness  of 
both  children  and  parents,  all  eyes  sparkled  at  his  words 
of  praise.  Parents  were  proud  of  their  children,  and 
children  proud  of  themselves. 

"  April  13.  Wrote  John  Little's  Will."  This  entry 
shows  that  a  pastor's  duty  was  not  confined  to  religious 
instruction.  He  was  the  scholar  of  the  town,  and  must 
give  advice,  and  write  documents  where  some  education 
and  legal  knowledge  were  required,  and  he  felt  as  willing 
to  aid  his  people  as  they  felt  free  to  call  on  him.  There 
were  but  few  lawyers,  so  abundant  now. 

"  July  16.  Went  to  Commencement."  No  clergyman 
of  that  day  neglected  to  visit  Cambridge  on  that  occa 
sion,  if  only  from  religious  motives.  The  strict  Puritan 
theology  of  the  time  then  prevailed  at  Harvard.  It  was 
regarded  as  the  nursery  of  the  church,  where  they  could 
receive  large  draughts  of  spiritual  life  as  well  as  mingle 
with  the  scholars  of  New  England.  For  many  weeks 
after  his  return  the  minister  would  tell  his  people  what 
he  had  seen  and  heard,  and  they  were  no  more  tired  of 
hearing  than  he  was  of  telling. 

"Married  Jonathan  Johnson  to  Molly  Follansbee ; 
Moses  Atwood  to  Judith  Wadley,  all  of  Hampstead  for 
a  dollar  a  piece."  Again,  "Married  Major  Moore  to 
widow  Little  for  two  dollars."  These  entries  show  how 
little  it  cost  to  get  married  a  century  ago,  and  explains 
in  part  why  so  few  then  led  single  lives.  As  a  "  Major  " 
was  quite  an  important  personage  years  ago,  and  from 
regard  for  his  dignity  would  pay  the  highest  price  where 
his  happiness  was  so  deeply  concerned,  it  would  seem 
that  two  dollars  was  a  big  fee.  With  no  knowledge  on 


68  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER    ARTICLES 

the  subject,  it  is  to  be  hoped  our  clerical  friends  are  now 
more  liberally  rewarded.  One  can  certainly  afford  to 
pay  well  for  a  union  with  a  good  wife,  and  if  he  gets  a 
poor  one  he  may  as  well  begin  first  as  last  to  pay  dearly 
for  his  folly. 

"  Nov.  6.  At  Mr.  Dow's  mill  raising."  Even  in  the 
youth  of  many  now  living  it  was  quite  an  event  to  raise 
a  building.  The  timbers  were  large,  some  of  them  big 
enough  to  give  timber  for  a  modern  house,  and  all  the 
men  of  the  town  must  assemble  to  aid.  The  min 
ister  went,  too,  for  he  could  see  the  people  and  talk 
with  them.  Prayer  was  generally  offered  before  the 
work  began.  Refreshments  were  provided  in  abun 
dance,  and  New  England  rum  was  never  wanting,  of 
which  the  minister  would  take  a  little  with  the  rest  — 
only  a  little.  It  was  long  before  the  days  of  temper 
ance  ;  it  was  a  pure  liquor,  not  the  often  poisonous  mix 
ture  now  drunk,  and  if  the  people  became  a  little  excited 
their  heads  were  clear  the  next  day. 

"  Dec.  26.  Got  my  wood."  Most  pastors  of  that  day 
were  settled  for  so  much  money  and  so  many  cords  of 
wood,  and  so  it  was,  as  has  been  stated,  with  Parson 
Peabody.  Word  would  be  given  out  that  on  a  given 
day,  all  must  bring  the  minister's  wood,  and  a  merry 
time  they  had  of  it,  for  it  was  a  labor  of  love,  and  all 
rejoiced  to  take  part.  No  one  could  work  too  hard,  arid 
the  heart  of  the  pastor  was  not  more  glad  than  those  of 
his  people  at  the  big  pile  before  his  door.  No  sworn 
surveyor  measured  the  allowance,  no  short  sticks  were 
slyly  put  in  —  the  minister  must  be  kept  warm,  for  they 
well  knew  how  welcome  they  would  be  to  his  fireside. 

To  add  to  his  means  of  support  he  had  bought  a  little 


REV.    STEPHEN   PEABODY   AND   WIFE  69 

farm.  He  did  much  of  the  work  on  his  land  with  his 
own  hands,  and  in  his  diary  he  speaks  of  "  getting  in  the 
corn,"  and  "  husking  it,"  "  killing  the  hog  and  cow," 
and  other  such  necessary  farm  labor.  The  out-of-door 
exercise  kept  him  in  robust  health,  as  it  would  keep 
clergymen  now.  He  was  a  large  man,  over  six  feet  in 
height,  of  great  strength,  with  a  keen  black  eye,  swarthy 
complexion,  and  curling,  bushy  hair.  He  could  do  every 
kind  of  farm  work,  for  which  his  early  life  had  prepared 
him,  and  whether  holding  the  plough,  hoeing  corn, 
wielding  the  scythe,  harvesting,  or  gathering  his  fruit, 
about  which  he  was  very  select,  bearing  in  mind  his 
guests,  no  one  of  his  neighbors  could  surpass  him.  He 
knew  no  fear,  and  in  his  youth  he  had  been  a  famous 
wrestler,  and,  it  was  said,  bad  men  had  not  unfrequently 
experienced  his  "  muscular  Christianity  "  in  a  way  they 
did  not  forget,  when  they  had  excited  him  to  holy  anger. 
His  farm  work  was  a  bond  of  union  between  him  and 
his  people.  He  was  one  of  them,  he  worked  as  they 
worked,  did  as  they  did,  and  in  all  his  labors,  in  time  of 
need,  their  willing  hands  were  ever  at  his  service.  It 
was  the  advantage  of  a  long  pastorate,  that  the  minister 
knew  all  his  people.  The  population  was  then  stationary, 
with  no  foreign  mixture,  and  as  years  rolled  on  the 
children  and  grandchildren  of  his  first  charge  grew  up 
around  him,  their  history  was  familiar  to  him,  and  they 
seemed  like  a  part  of  his  own  family.  At  funerals  Mr. 
Peabody  could  drop  a  sympathetic  and  sincere  tear,  for 
a  friend  had  departed,  and  at  weddings  he  was  the  life 
of  the  company,  giving  loose  rein  to  his  exuberant  spirits, 
and  interspersing  good  advice  with  the  cheerful  talk  be 
fitting  the  occasion. 


70  BIOGRAPHICAL  AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

Mr.  Peabody  was  very  hospitable,  and  his  diary  gives 
evidence  of  the  amount  of  company  he  entertained.  Al 
most  every  day  he  speaks  of  persons  who  have  dined  or 
lodged  with  him,  and  when  the  labor  of  giving  names 
was  too  great  he  would  write,  "  full  of  company." 

Before  the  introduction  of  railroads  it  was  the  custom 
of  the  farmers  of  Vermont  and  New  Hampshire  to  bring 
their  produce  in  their  own  conveyances  to  the  seaport 
towns,  and  exchange  for  groceries  and  other  needed  arti 
cles.  These  journeys  were  usually  made  in  winter,  as 
it  was  their  season  of  leisure,  and  in  sleighs  for  ease  of 
transport.  Often,  however,  the  snow  would  suddenly 
disappear,  so  that  the  farmers  made  all  possible  expedi 
tion,  travelling  much  in  the  night.  So  well  known  was 
Mr.  Peabody's  hospitality  that  many  of  them  would 
stop  at  his  house,  and  they  were  welcome.  His  doors 
were  left  unfastened  at  night ;  the  big  back-log  gave 
heat  to  his  sitting-room ;  and  they  would  enter,  warm 
themselves,  chat  with  the  good  pastor  in  his  adjacent 
bed-room,  and  depart,  their  faces  unseen,  and,  perhaps, 
as  in  the  old  days  of  chivalry,  their  names  unasked. 

He  was  a  gentleman  in  his  appearance,  and  paid  full 
regard  to  the  proprieties  of  dress  demanded  of  a  clergy 
man  at  that  period.  If  when  at  work  in  the  field,  in  a 
plain  farmer's  dress,  it  was  announced  that  polished 
visitors  had  come  to  see  him,  he  would  quickly  prepare 
to  meet  them,  in  his  best  dark  garb,  with  his  white  cra 
vat,  his  silk  stockings  meeting  the  breeches  at  the  knee, 
and  the  silver  buckles  worn  then  by  gentlemen. 

He  was  a  man  of  large  views,  and  one  of  his  first 
anxieties  was  to  provide  for  his  people  better  means  of 
education,  and  aided  by  a  few  friends  he  established 


REV.  STEPHEN  PEABODY  AND  WIFE       71 

Atkinson  Academy  in  1787,  though  it  was  not  incorpo 
rated  till  1791,  the  oldest  in  the  State  after  Phillips  at 
Exeter.  Money  was  scarce,  and  to  raise  the  necessary 
funds  was  no  easy  task,  and  from  his  own  limited  re 
sources  he  expended  freely,  and  incurred  debts  that  em 
barrassed  him  to  the  end  of  his  life.  One  of  the  means 
then  common  to  secure  money  for  such  objects  was  lot 
teries,  for  there  were  no  moral  scruples  in  regard  to  them. 
In  the  year  1791  a  petition  was  presented  to  the  New 
Hampshire  legislature,  in  which  it  was  stated :  "  That 
lotteries  are  now  established  in  Massachusetts  for  rais 
ing  funds  to  support  academies,  and  for  various  other 
purposes,  by  which  considerable  sums  are  daily  drawn 
from  the  citizens  of  this  State."  And  after  enlarging 
upon  the  benefit  to  be  obtained  from  the  lottery,  the  pe 
tition  prays  :  "  That  we  might  have  liberty  to  raise  one 
thousand  pounds,  or  such  other  sum  as  may  be  thought 
proper,  to  be  disposed  of  for  the  accomplishment  of  the 
above  purpose."  Massachusetts  was  authority  then  as 
now  in  morals. 

The  petition  was  at  once  granted,  Feb.  17,  1791. 
Then,  as  the  town  was  so  near  the  boundary,  a  peti 
tion  was  presented  to  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts 
for  permission  to  sell  tickets  in  that  State.  It  was  re 
fused,  not  on  moral  grounds,  but  the  thrifty  Old  Bay 
State  wished  to  reap  fully  all  the  advantages  to  be  ob 
tained  from  the  cultivation  of  its  own  territory  —  it 
believed  then  as  now  in  a  "  Home  Market."  The  good 
man  had  made  several  journeys  to  Boston  on  this  errand, 
and  it  was  with  a  sad  heart  that  he  turned  his  horse 
homeward  from  his  unsuccessful  mission. 

The  lottery  scheme  was  a  failure,  for  but  few  tickets 


72  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

could  be  sold  in  a  section  so  sparsely  settled  as  New 
Hampshire.  His  efforts,  however,  in  favor  of  the  infant 
institution  were  not  relaxed,  and  were  rewarded  by  suc 
cess.  It  soon  gained  a  wide  reputation,  and  students 
flocked  thither  from  far  around,  many  of  whom,  as  Levi 
Woodbury,  Governor  Kent,  Jonathan  Cilley,  President 
Brown,  in  after  years  gained  a  national  reputation. 
Grace  Fletcher,  wife  of  Daniel  Webster,  was  one  of 
the  pupils,  and  an  old  lady,  one  of  her  schoolmates,  told 
me  she  was  a  pale,  delicate,  modest  girl,  whom  all  loved. 
It  was,  I  think,  the  first  academy  in  the  country  to  admit 
ladies  to  its  privileges.  The  tradition  is  that  "  Polly  " 
Peabody  told  her  father  she  was  going  to  the  academy. 
He  was  amazed  at  such  a  proposition,  for  up  to  that  time 
but  few  girls  had  received  more  than  an  elementary  edu 
cation,  but  he  could  deny  his  only  daughter  nothing,  and 
she  and  some  of  her  companions  were  admitted,  sat  with 
the  boys,  joined  their  classes,  and  co-education  was  es 
tablished.  The  advocates  of  woman's  rights  should  give 
merited  credit  to  "  Polly  "  Peabody  and  Atkinson  Acad 
emy  for  this  advance  movement  in  the  higher  education 
of  women.  Parson  Peabody  received  many  pupils  into 
his  family,  as  he  had  erected  a  large  house,  and  they  were 
ever  after  grateful  for  the  instruction  and  refining  influ 
ence  of  his  home,  largely  due  to  his  wife,  of  whom  it  will 
be  spoken  later. 

One  of  these  pupils,  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Gilman, 
has  told  how  his  mother,  left  a  poor  widow  with  four  chil 
dren,  had  taken  him,  her  only  son,  a  little  boy  of  seven 
years,  to  Mr.  Peabody's  home,  and  related  her  condition 
and  anxiety  for  the  child's  future.  "  Madam,"  was  his 
reply,  "  leave  your  little  boy  with  us.  He  shall  be  one 


REV.  STEPHEN  PEABODY  AND  WIFE       73 

of  us,  and  enter  the  academy.  If  Providence  blesses 
your  efforts  to  secure  for  yourself  a  livelihood,  well  and 
good  ;  you  may  remunerate  us  in  the  usual  way.  But, 
if  you  are  doomed  to  struggle  with  adversity,  be  not 
anxious  about  your  son  ;  be  sure  he  shall  have  a  home 
and  an  education."  His  wife  was  sitting  near  knitting, 
and  smiled  approval  of  her  husband's  words.  Was  not 
this  practical  Christianity?  It  can  well  be  imagined 
with  what  a  light  heart  that  mother  drove  back  the  next 
morning  to  her  home  in  Gloucester.  It  should  be  added 
that  the  debt  was  fully  paid  in  after  years,  so  far  as 
money  could  pay  it.  It  is  an  illustration  of  the  kindness, 
unselfishness,  and  hospitality  of  this  clergyman  during 
his  whole  life. 

Not  content  with  the  establishment  of  the  academy, 
in  his  Avish  to  cultivate  the  people  generally  he  started 
a  library,  with  the  leading  citizens  its  shareholders, 
which  was  continued  long  after  his  decease,  and  had  a 
marked  influence  in  forming  an  intelligent  community. 
The  books  were  carefully  selected,  every  one  instructive, 
in  marked  contrast  to  the  volumes  burdening  so  many 
shelves  of  our  modern  libraries.  It  was  before  the  day 
of  cheap  fiction. 

With  all  these  traits  that  could  not  fail  to  be  appre 
ciated,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  he  had  a  strong 
hold  on  the  respect  and  affections  of  his  people.  No 
child  passed  him  that  did  not  take  off  the  hat  or  make 
a  courtesy,  and  it  may  be  said  that  at  that  period  every 
child  was  taught  at  home  and  at  school  to  show  this 
civility  to  the  passing  stranger,  and  punished  for  dis 
obedience.  In  far  off  Hammerfest,  in  Norway,  a  few 
years  ago,  the  writer  was  struck  with  this  attention  to  a 


74  BIOGRAPHICAL  AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

t 

stranger,  recalling  the  instruction  of  his  boyhood.  Are 
our  children  better  now  for  its  disregard  ? 

In  the  church  at  the  close  of  the  service,  the  congre 
gation  rose,  and  remained  standing  till  Mr.  Peabody  had 
left  the  house,  bowing  on  each  side  as  he  passed  down 
the  aisle  followed  by  his  wife.  He  was  never  spoken  of, 
or  to,  lightly,  but  usually  as  "  Sir  Peabody,"  or  "  Parson 
Peabody." 

He  was  not  a  learned  man,  and  his  theological  library 
was  said  not  to  have  contained  more  than  fifty  volumes, 
yet  his  talents  were  certainly  very  respectable.  He  was 
not  unfrequently  called  upon  to  preach  at  the  ordination 
exercises  of  his  brother  clergymen,  and  once  preached  the 
annual  sermon  before  the  New  Hampshire  legislature. 
His  sermons  were  written  in  a  fine  hand,  on  small  sheets 
of  paper,  for  economy  was  required  even  in  small  things. 
Sermons  then  were  divided  into  many  heads,  but  he 
rarely  went  beyond  "  fifthly."  He  had  the  attention  of 
his  hearers,  of  the  older  portion  from  interest,  and  the 
younger  people  seated  in  the  large  galleries  were  kept  in 
order  by  tithingmen,  regularly  appointed  by  the  town  at 
their  annual  meetings  to  look  after  unruly  boys.  Mr. 
Peabody  did  not  hesitate  himself  to  stop  in  his  sermon 
and  rebuke  any  impropriety  in  the  house  of  God.  After 
the  religious  exercises  had  been  finished,  it  was  the  cus 
tom  of  the  town  clerk  to  read  the  intentions  of  marriage, 
when  all,  especially  the  young,  were  eager  listeners.  It 
was  certainly  a  proof  of  his  ability  that  his  people  were 
for  so  long  a  time  united  under  his  teachings.  But  it 
was  a  period  of  faith,  of  adherence  to  time-honored 
views,  before  the  "  divers  and  strange  doctrines  "  that 
have  since  divided  the  churches  had  crept  in.  It  was  a 


REV.  STEPHEN  PEABODY  AND  WIFE       75 

sufficient  ground  of  belief  that  "  Parson  Peabody  "  and 
the  Bible  said  it.  An  unbeliever  in  the  old  Orthodoxy 
was  looked  upon  with  suspicion,  and  suffered  in  his 
social  intercourse  as  a  dangerous  associate,  especially  for 
the  young.  An  old  Boston  teacher  who  had  taught 
Edward  Everett  came  to  spend  his  declining  years  in 
the  town,  but  found  it  prudent  to  conceal  his  Unita- 
rianism,  and  when  asked  his  religious  belief  would  evade 
a  direct  answer  by  saying :  "  My  wife  is  a  Methodist." 
He  attended  the  service,  and  contributed  as  did  his 
neighbors. 

Mr.  Peabody  had  a  happy  temperament  and  joyous 
nature,  and  was  fond  of  a  joke.  He  was  quick  to  see 
the  humor  of  any  incident,  and  told  a  story  or  anecdote 
with  much  glee,  often  rising  and  using  action  to  add  to 
the  effect,  and  joining  heartily  in  the  laughter  that 
followed.  He  was  a  fine  singer,  revelled  in  music,  and 
often  the  first  thing  heard  in  his  house  in  the  morning 
was  his  loud  melodious  voice  in  some  song  like  "  The 
bright  rosy  morning  peeps  over  the  hills,"  arousing  the 
sleeping  inmates.  When  riding  alone,  or  at  home,  the 
impulse  would  seize  him,  and  he  would  break  out  in 
some  favorite  tune.  He  joined  in  the  singing  at  the 
church,  and  if  there  was  any  deficiency  he  supplied  it, 
sometimes  taking  the  place  of  the  choir.  He  played  the 
violin,  and  would  draw  from  its  chords  exquisite  music, 
and  it  was  thought  that  he  would  gladly  have  danced 
but  for  his  profession. 

In  his  domestic  relations  Mr.  Peabody  was  fortunate. 
He  married  his  first  wife  Jan.  19,  1773,  soon  after  his 
settlement.  She  was  Mary  Haseltine,  daughter  of 
Deacon  John  and  Mary  (Ingalls)  Haseltine,  of  Brad- 


76  BIOGRAPHICAL  AND   OTHER  ARTICLES 

ford,  Mass.,  and  an  aunt  of  the  missionary  Mrs.  Judson 
and  of  Miss  Abigail  C.  Haseltine,  so  long  the  able 
principal  of  Bradford  Female  Seminary.  She  was  a 
devoted  wife  and  mother,  whose  chief  happiness  was  in 
her  family.  She  died  Sept.  19,  1793.  Becoming  a 
widower  at  an  early  age,  according  to  the  custom  of  that 
class  he  began  to  look  for  another  wife,  and  in  due  time 
married  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Shaw,  widow  of  Rev.  John 
Shaw,  pastor  of  the  first  Church  of  Haverhill,  Mass. 
Her  history  was  specially  identified  with  that  of  Mr. 
Peabody  and  his  Society,  and  it  is  not  easy  to  speak  too 
strongly  in  her  praise. 

She  was  the  youngest  of  three  remarkable  sisters, 
daughters  of  Rev.  William  Smith,  of  Weymouth,  Mass., 
and  was  said  not  to  have  been  inferior  to  either  of  her 
sisters.  One  of  them  married  President  John  Adams, 
and  the  third  married  Richard  Cranch,  and  was  the 
mother  of  the  late  Judge  Cranch,  of  Washington,  D.C. 
Her  father  had  educated  her  with  great  care,  and  as 
the  wife  of  Mr.  Shaw  she  occupied  a  prominent  social 
position.  The  clergy  of  that  period  mingled  much  with 
each  other,  to  discuss  theological  and  other  questions 
continually  arising  in  their  parishes,  and  to  talk  about 
new  books,  then  rarely  appearing,  and  give  to  them 
selves  and  their  families  the  benefit  of  the  best  social 
intercourse.  It  was  a  custom  then,  long  since  passed 
away,  to  hold  protracted  meetings  for  three  or  four 
successive  days,  in  aid  of  a  revival,  at  which  all  the 
ministers  of  the  surrounding  towns  with  their  wives 
were  gathered.  As  few  events  but  death  caused  a 
change  of  pastorate,  the  clergymen  became  very  intimate 
with  each  other  and  their  families,  and  so  rare  a  woman 


ELIZABETH     PEABODY. 


HEV.    STEPHEN   PEABODY   AND    WIFE  77 

as  Mrs.  Shaw  was  well  known  and  admired,  not  the  least 
by  Mr.  Peabody.  As  a  widower  he  consulted  her  about 
the  new  wife  for  whom  he  was  in  search.  "  What  kind 
of  a  woman  do  you  want?  "  she  asked.  "  One  just  like 
yourself,"  was  the  gallant  and  sincere  reply.  Soon 
after  Mr.  Peabody  mounted  his  horse,  and  was  on  his 
way  to  visit  the  lady  recommended,  when  he  heard  of 
the  sudden  death  of  Mr.  Shaw.  Other  thoughts  at  once 
took  possession  of  him,  and  he  turned  his  horse  and 
went  home. 

As  might  be  expected,  others  besides  Mr.  Peabody 
were  anxious  to  console  the  interesting  widow  in  her 
bereavement,  and  among  them  the  Rev.  Isaac  Smith,  a 
cousin  and  youthful  admirer.  He  was  preceptor  of  By- 
field  Academy,  the  oldest  in  the  State,  and  which  has 
been  one  of  the  most  useful.  But  Parson  Peabody  was 
only  six  miles  from  Haverhill,  and  Mr.  Smith  was  fifteen, 
and  naturally  the  former  went  of tener  and  stayed  later,  in 
his  visits  to  the  lady,  and  the  result  was  then  as  now  to 
be  expected  — he  won.  Mrs.  Shaw's  domestic,  with  her 
eyes  and  ears  open  to  passing  events,  a  trait  by  no  means 
lost  now  in  that  class,  kept  herself  well  informed.  She 
favored  Mr.  Smith,  had  regretted  his  early  disappoint 
ment,  and  had  encouraged  him  to  renewed  efforts.  The 
evening  when  the  momentous  question  was  settled,  it 
rained  hard,  and  for  that  reason,  probably,  each  had  se 
lected  it,  thinking  he  would  have  a  clear  field  and  no 
interruption.  But  the  distance  had  told,  and  when  after 
dark  Mr.  Smith  presented  himself  at  the  door  Lydia  said 
to  him  sharply  :  "  You  are  altogether  too  late,  sir;  Par 
son  Peabody  has  long  ago  dried  his  coat  by  the  kitchen 
fire,  and  has  been  sitting  with  Mrs.  Shaw  a  whole  hour 


78  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER   ARTICLES 

in  the  parlor."  Mr.  Smith  turned  home  to  Byfield  and 
never  married.  His  face  was  said  ever  after  to  have 
worn  a  melancholy  expression,  his  mind  no  doubt  filled 
with  the  thought  of  what  "  might  have  been." 

A  word  should  be  said  of  this  domestic,  Lydia  Springer. 
She  spent  her  life  in  the  service  of  this  one  family,  re 
garded  more  as  a  friend  than  a  servant.  On  the  death 
of  her  mistress,  she  was  retained  by  her  daughter.  Her 
wages  were  fifty  cents  a  week,  the  ruling  price  then,  from 
which  she  saved  a  considerable  sum. 

No  greater  blessing  could  have  been  bestowed  on  the 
people  of  the  little  town  and  on  the  infant  academy  than 
the  advent  of  Mrs.  Peabody.  She  became  to  them  as  a 
superior  being.  With  a  cultivation  and  refinement  to 
which  they  had  not  been  accustomed,  her  whole  appear 
ance  was  an  inspiration,  for  her  person  was  very  pleas 
ing,  and  she  did  not  neglect  the  attractions  of  dress.  By 
her  visits  to  Boston  and  Quincy,  where  she  met  the  best 
society  of  the  day,  she  could  bring  back  information  of 
new  books  and  authors,  not  neglecting  the  latest  fashions 
for  her  own  benefit  and  that  of  her  friends.  There  was 
a  charm  about  her  conversation  and  a  kindness  and  sweet 
ness  in  her  smile  and  whole  manner  that  won  every  heart. 
She  had  many  students  of  both  sexes  in  her  family,  over 
whom  she  tenderly  and  carefully  watched,  who  idolized 
her,  and  would  never  in  her  presence  do  or  say  a  rude 
thing.  Everything  connected  with  her  lifted  them  up 
to  something  purer  and  better,  and  even  when  they  left 
her  home  she  followed  them  by  her  correspondence,  giv 
ing  them  needed  advice,  precious  from  such  a  source. 
She  always  turned  the  conversation  at  the  table,  and 
elsewhere,  to  instructive  topics.  Familiar  with  the  best 


REV.    STEPHEN   PEABODY    AND   WIFE  79 

literature,  she  would  quote  from  such  authors  as  Shake 
speare,  Pope,  Addison,  and  would  interest  them  by  read 
ing  such  books  as  "Hannah  More's  Tracts,"  then  re 
cently  published,  which  had  such  a  wonderful  and 
healthy  circulation. 

With  all  these  accomplishments,  she  was  not  above 
attention  to  the  common  duties  of  a  large  household  and 
the  requirements  of  a  poor  clergyman's  wife.  She  aided 
her  solitary  maid  in  her  work,  mended  the  stockings  and 
attended  to  the  clothing  and  appearance  of  the  little  boys 
in  her  family,  and  was  above  no  labor;  but,  however 
engaged,  or  however  dressed,  she  was  always  a  lady  to 
those  around  her.  Careful  about  her  attire,  an  elaborate 
"  queenly  head  dress,"  as  one  who  remembered  her  styled 
it,  seemed  to  have  impressed  itself  as  peculiar  to  her,  and 
it  is  represented  in  the  portrait  of  her  by  Stuart  still  in 
existence.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  no  other  lady  in  that 
vicinity  ever  exerted  such  an  influence,  or  was  so  widely 
remembered. 

She  died  suddenly  April  9,  1815,  in  the  66th  year  of 
her  age.  John  Quincy  Adams,  then  in  London,  wrote 
to  his  mother,  under  date  of  June  30,  1815,  as  follows : 
"  My  aunt  Peabody  was,  next  to  you;  one  of  the  earliest 
and  kindest  friends  and  guardians  of  my  childhood. 
Since  that  time  every  recollection  that  I  have  of  her  is 
of  acts  of  kindness  to  myself  and  to  my  children.  The 
news  of  her  decease,  therefore,  could  not  but  painfully 
affect  me,  and  the  sentiment  was  deepened  by  that  of  the 
impression  with  which  I  knew  you  must  have  been 
affected  by  the  event."  Mrs.  Abigail  Adams,  wife  of 
President  John  Adams,  wrote  of  her  :  "  Few  persons  held 
so  eloquent  a  pen,  or  could  find  such  ready  access  to  the 


80  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER    ARTICLES 

heart.  I  scarcely  ever  received  a  letter  from  her  which 
did  not  draw  involuntary  tears  from  my  eyes.  Her  im 
agination  was  brilliant,  her  affections  pure  and  ardent, 
her  wit  and  playfulness  full  of  good  humor,  unalloyed 
with  acrimony.  To  know  her  was  to  love  and  respect 
her.  How  many  owe  to  her  the  good  seed  which  she 
planted  in  their  infant  minds,  and  which,  I  doubt  not, 
will  be  her  crown  of  rejoicing !  " 

Two  children  by  Mr.  Shaw  survived  her,  a  son  and  a 
daughter.  Her  son,  William  Smith  Shaw,  was  graduated 
at  Harvard ;  was  private  secretary  of  his  uncle,  President 
John  Adams ;  studied  law  and  was  clerk  of  the  United 
States  District  Court.  He  was  one  of  the  principal 
founders  of  the  Boston  Athenseum,  to  which  he  gave  his 
valuable  collection  of  coins,  tracts,  and  curios.  He  died 
in  Boston,  April  25,  1826. 

The  daughter,  Elizabeth  Quincy  Shaw,  became  the 
wife  of  the  late  Joseph  B.  Felt,  well  known  as  an  his 
torian  and  antiquary,  whose  acquaintance  she  had  made 
while  he  was  a  student  at  Atkinson  Academy,  and  an 
inmate  of  her  mother's  family. 

The  death  of  his  wife  was  a  severe  blow  to  Mr.  Pea- 
body,  already  beginning  to  feel  the  approach  of  old  age. 
The  sunshine  of  his  life  was  gone.  He  could  not  sing 
and  joke  as  of  old.  He  was  feeble  in  the  discharge  of 
his  parish  duties,  and  rarely  wrote  a  new  sermon,  but 
would  read  from  Henry's  or  Scott's  Commentaries.  To 
the  last  he  retained  the  affection  of  his  people,  charitable 
to  all  omissions  in  one  who  had  served  them  as  pastor  so 
long  and  so  faithfully.  He  died  May  23,  1819. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Peabody  sleep  side  by  side  in  the  bury- 
ing-ground  in  the  centre  of  the  village,  over  three  hun- 


REV.    STEPHEN    PEABODY   AND    WIFE  81 

dred  feet  above  the  sea-level ;  where  can  be  had  a  view 
on  which  they  loved  to  look,  of  the  Monadnock  and 
other  mountains  to  the  west  and  north ;  and  of  the 
spires  of  many  villages  extending  for  miles  south  and 
east  to  the  ocean  at  Newburyport.  A  few  years  ago  a 
loving  grandson  erected  a  handsome  monument  to  re 
place  the  old  broken  stones,  preserving  the  original 
epitaphs  that  record  none  too  strongly  the  merits  of  the 
departed.  They  were  as  follows  : 

"  Rev.  Stephen  Peabody  died  May  23,  in  his  78th 
year.  He  was  ordained  the  first  minister  of  this  town 
Nov.  25,  1772,  and  until  his  death  sustained  the  office 
with  dignity,  possessed  the  love  and  confidence  of  his 
people,  and  ardently  sought  the  interest  of  his  charge 
and  of  mankind.  He  was  a  man  of  good  talents,  a 
sound  divine,  a  Christian  in  word  and  deed.  He  was  to 
the  last  a  friend  of  those  in  distress,  the  patron  of  merit 
and  literature,  and  served  as  chaplain  in  the  army  of  the 
Revolution. 

"  And  they  that  be  wise  shall  shine  as  the  brightness 
of  the  firmament,  and  they  shall  turn  many  to  righteous 
ness  as  the  stars  for  ever. 

"  In  memory  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Peabody.  At  her  de 
cease  she  was  the  wife  of  Rev.  Stephen  Peabody  of 
this  town.  She  died  suddenly  April  9,  1815,  aged  65 
years.  She  was  eminent  for  strength  of  mind  and  the 
acquisition  of  literature.  She  lived  not  for  herself  but 
for  the  benefit  of  others,  and  the  honor  of  her  Maker. 
The  religion  she  possessed  was  exemplified  in  her  life. 
Though  dead,  her  memory  is  embalmed  in  the  hearts  of 
many.  Of  her  it  may  justly  be  said  4  Blessed  are  the 
dead  that  die  in  the  Lord.' 


82  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER   ARTICLES 

"  In  memory  of  Elizabeth  Quincy  Shaw,  eldest  daugh 
ter  of  the  late  Rev.  John  and  Elizabeth  Shaw,  of  Haver- 
hill,  Mass.,  who  died  Sept.  4,  1798,  aged  18  years." 

Those  who  knew  them  cherished  warmly  years  after 
their  decease  the  memory  of  "  Sir "  and  "  Ma'am  Pea- 
body,"  and  spoke  to  their  children  and  their  children's 
children  of  their  many  virtues  and  hallowed  influence, 
as  my  parents  did  to  me. 

Mr.  Peabody  left  two  children  by  his  first  wife,  a  son 
and  a  daughter.  The  son,  Stephen  (Harv.  1794),  born 
Oct.  6,  1773,  was  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas, 
of  Hancock  County,  Maine,  and  died  April  12,  1851,  at 
Bucksport.  He  had  four  sons :  Stephen,  George,  Wil 
liam,  and  Leonard,  all  deceased,  of  whom  only  Leonard 
left  children,  two  sons  and  a  daughter.  Leonard  married 
Mary,  a  daughter  of  Hon.  William  Todd  of  St.  Stephen, 
New  Brunswick.  His  eldest  son,  Harry  Ernest  Pea- 
body,  was  graduated  from  Harvard  in  1887,  and  from 
the  Yale  Divinity  School  in  1891.  He  is  now  a  Congre 
gational  clergyman  of  Windsor  Avenue  Church,  Hart 
ford,  Ct. 

Mr.  Peabody's  daughter,  Mary,  usually  called  "  Polly," 
married  Stephen  Peabody  Webster,  of  Haverhill,  N.H., 
but  left  no  children. 

For  this  sketch  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Peabody  the  writer  is 
indebted  to  the  recollections  of  aged  people,  and  espe 
cially  to  a  magazine  article  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Gil- 
man,  written  fifty  years  ago,  from  a  heart  full  of  grati 
tude  for  youthful  training  in  their  home.  Mr.  Geo.  A. 
Gordon,  my  personal  friend  for  fifty  years,  commencing 
in  college  days,  also  has  supplied  important  facts  in 
regard  to  Mr.  Peabody  and  his  family. 


SKETCH  AND  REMINISCENCES  OF  THOMAS 
HART  BENTON 


MISSOURI  has  recently  presented  to  the  Capitol  at 
Washington  the  statue  of  Thomas  Hart  Benton,  as  that 
of  one  of  the  two  men  whom  she  wished  thus  specially 
to  honor,  and  attention  has  been  called  anew  to  one  of 
the  most  prominent  of  deceased  American  statesmen. 

Thomas  Hart  Benton  was  born  in  Orange  County, 
N.C.,  March  14,  1782,  the  same  year  that  gave  birth  to 
Daniel  Webster,  John  C.  Calhoun,  Martin  Van  Buren, 
and  LeAvis  Cass,  with  whom  his  political  life  was  so 
closely  associated.  His  parents  were  of  good  old  Eng 
lish  Virginia  lineage.  He  spent  some  time  at  a  grammar 
school  and  at  a  college,  but  his  education  was  inter 
rupted  and  imperfect,  and  he  did  not  take  a  degree. 
His  father,  who  was  a  lawyer,  died  when  he  was  quite 
young,  and  his  mother  moved  to  Tennessee,  where  the 
family  owned  real  estate.  He  studied  law,  and  began 
to  practise  at  Nashville.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  he 
first  saw  Andrew  Jackson,  then  judge  of  the  Superior 
Court  at  Tennessee,  and  afterwards  major-general  of 
the  state  militia,  with  whom  his  history  was  so  closely 
identified.  He  became  an  aide-de-camp  of  Jackson, 
which  gave  him  his  title  of  colonel,  by  which  he  was 
afterwards  generally  designated,  and  he  claims  in  his 
"View"  that  Jackson  received  his  appointment  in  the 


84  BIOGRAPHICAL    AND    OTHER   ARTICLES 

regular  army  by  his  influence.  The  two  soon  became 
warm  friends  and  so  continued  until  their  feud  in  1813, 
which  arose  through  the  brother,  Jesse  Benton,  and  came 
near  terminating  the  early  career  of  both. 

He  served  one  term  in  the  Legislature  of  Tennessee, 
where,  though  young,  he  was  very  active,  and  caused  to 
be  enacted  a  law  giving  to  slaves  the  same  right  of  trial 
by  jury  as  to  the  whites. 

He  was  appointed  by  President  Madison  a  lieutenant 
colonel  in  the  regular  army,  but  resigned  on  the  declara 
tion  of  peace  with  England.  He  removed  to  St.  Gene- 
vieve,  in  Missouri,  and  soon  after  to  St.  Louis,  where  he 
opened  a  law  office,  became  engaged  in  politics,  estab 
lished  a  newspaper  full  of  personalities,  and  was  in 
volved  in  quarrels  and  duels,  in  one  of  which  he  killed 
his  man,  to  his  deep  subsequent  regret.  Duelling,  how 
ever,  was  then  regarded  as  the  proper  course  in  a  matter 
of  wounded  honor,  and  he  was  present  at  the  duel 
between  Clay  and  Randolph. 

He  was  active  in  securing  the  admission  of  Missouri 
to  the  Union,  though  as  a  slave  State,  and  was  rewarded 
by  an  election  as  one  of  the  first  senators  by  one  majority. 
This  position  he  retained  from  1821  to  1851,  a  period  of 
great  prominence  in  American  history,  when  the  most 
celebrated  debates  were  held,  and  such  intellectual 
giants  as  Webster,  Clay,  and  Calhoun  were  partici 
pants. 

In  the  Senate,  in  1824,  he  met  again  Andrew  Jackson, 
then  a  senator  from  Tennessee,  with  whom  he  had  not 
spoken  since  their  fray  in  1813,  and  who  still  carried  in 
his  arm  the  bullet  of  Jesse  Benton.  Colonel  Benton,  in  a 
letter  written  at  the  time,  thus  describes  the  resumption 


THOMAS    HART    BENTON  85 

of  their  intercourse :  "  Well,  how  many  changes  in  this 
life  !  General  Jackson  is  now  sitting  in  the  chair  next  to 
me.  There  was  a  vacant  one  next  to  me,  and  he  took  it 
for  the  session.  Several  senators  saw  the  situation  and 
offered  mediation.  I  declined  it  on  the  ground  that  what 
had  happened  could  neither  be  explained,  recanted,  nor 
denied.  After  this  we  were  put  on  the  same  committee. 
Facing  me  one  day,  as  we  sat  in  our  seats,  he  said : 
4  Colonel,  we  are  on  the  same  committee.  I  will  give  you 
notice  when  it  is  necessary  to  attend.'  (He  w  us  chairman, 
and  had  a  right  to  summon  us.)  I  answered :  4  General, 
suit  yourself;  it  will  be  convenient  for  me  to  attend  at 
any  time.'  In  committee  we  did  business  together  just 
as  other  persons.  After  that  he  asked  me  how  my  wife 
was,  and  I  asked  him  how  his  was.  Then  he  called  and 
left  his  card  at  my  lodgings,  4  Andrew  Jackson  for  Col. 
Benton  and  lady ; '  forthwith  I  called  at  his  and  left 
mine.  Since  then  we  have  dined  together  at  several 
places,  and  yesterday  at  the  President's.  I  made  him 
the  first  bow  ;  he  held  out  his  hand,  and  we  shook  hands. 
I  then  introduced  him  to  my  wife,  and  thus  civil  rela 
tions  are  perfectly  established  between  us.  Jackson  has 
gained  since  he  has  been  here  by  his  mild  and  concilia 
tory  manner/'  It  has  been  said  that  the  first  salutation 
of  one  to  the  other  was,  "Shall  it  be  peace  or  war?" 
and  the  answer  was  "  Peace."  Both  were  equally  prepared 
all  their  lives  for  one  or  the  other,  equally  intense  in  love 
or  hate.  Thus  reconciled,  they  were  to  the  end  devoted 
to  each  other,  and  were  a  great  power  in  American  poli 
tics. 

In  the  election  of  1824,  Colonel  Benton  was  originally 
a  supporter  of  Mr.  Clay,  whose  wife   wus  a  relative,  but 


86  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER    ARTICLES 

when  the  contest  lay  between  Adams  and  Jackson  he 
gave  his  influence  to  the  latter. 

As  might  be  expected  from  his  character,  Colonel 
Benton  became  at  once  active,  prominent,  and  influen 
tial,  speaking  often  and  in  elaborate  speeches,  and 
watching  every  opportunity  to  advance  the  interest  of 
the  West. 

He  was  a  bitter  opponent  of  the  re-chartering  of  the 
United  States  bank,  making  his  first  speech  against  it  in 
1831,  and  without  a  doubt  did  much  to  influence  the 
course  of  Gen.  Jackson  on  this  as  on  many  other  ques 
tions.  He  became  specially  interested  in  financial 
questions,  advocating  hard  money,  and  well  earned  his 
title  of  "  Old  Bullion."  His  speeches  were  carefully 
prepared,  and,  though  unlike  his  great  opponents, 
Webster  and  Clay,  he  was  not  an  orator,  and  spoke  to 
an  empty  Senate,  he  influenced  the  people. 

General  Jackson  vetoed  the  bank  re-charter  bill,  and 
withdrew  the  deposits,  placing  them  in  "  pet  banks,"  and 
the  Senate  passed  a  vote  of  censure.  Colonel  Benton  at 
once  gave  notice  of  his  expunging  resolution,  which  was 
carried  at  last,  just  after  the  close  of  Jackson's  adminis 
tration,  at  a  session  of  intense  excitement,  against  the 
protest  of  Webster  and  others.  He  professed  to  fear 
assassination,  and  his  wife  was  present  in  her  anxiety. 
He  regarded  this  as  the  greatest  act  of  his  life,  of  which 
he  ever  boasted.  "  Solitary  and  alone,"  he  said,  "  I  put 
this  bill  in  motion." 

He  was  ever  a  strong  Union  man,  opposed  to  Mr.  Cal- 
houn  in  his  nullification  course,  whom  he  regarded  as  a 
personal  enemy,  and  said  he  should  have  hung  him  as  a 
traitor  if  lie  had  been  President. 


THOMAS   HART   BENTON  87 

He  early  moved  in  the  occupation  of  Oregon,  per 
ceiving  its  future  importance.  He  opposed  the  tariff  as 
prejudicial  to  the  interests  of  the  consumers  of  the  West. 
He  advocated  preemption  rights  and  other  means  to  pro 
mote  settlements  in  the  West,  and  a  national  road  to  the 
Pacific.  He  was  a  friend  of  Van  Buren,  and  predicted 
that  his  rejection  as  minister  to  England  would  make 
him  President.  He  aided  in  establishing  and,  perhaps, 
was  the  real  author  of  the  Sub-Treasury  system,  which 
continued  till  the  Civil  War,  and  in  the  opinion  of  many 
should  never  have  been  changed  for  the  greenbacks  of 
Mr.  Chase.  He  was  at  heart  early  opposed  to  slavery, 
and  opposed  the  resolutions  introduced  by  Mr.  Calhoun 
in  1847,  though  instructed  by  the  Missouri  Legislature 
to  vote  for  them.  He  opposed  the  admission  of  Texas 
as  a  slave  State,  a  most  unpopular  act  in  Missouri,  and 
which,  probably,  defeated  his  re-election. 

In  the  Mexican  War  he  exercised  much  influence, 
sustaining  the  course  of  the  government,  and  at  one 
time  it  was  proposed  to  entrust  to  him  the  conduct  of  the 
war  under  the  title  of  lieutenant-general. 

He  was  opposed  to  the  compromise  measures  of  Mr. 
Clay,  which  were  under  discussion  when  his  long  sena 
torial  term  expired,  and  to  all  measures  tending  to 
strengthen  slavery.  In  reply  to  the  resolutions  of  in 
struction  in  their  favor  his  reply  was  that  he  should 
appeal  to  the  people.  Senator  Vest  said  of  him  that  he 
never  knew  a  man  who  in  his  action  thought  less  of  its 
influence  on  himself.  He  did  appeal  to  the  people,  but 
he  had  broken  away  from  his  party,  especially  on  the  ad 
mission  of  Texas  ;  he  was  an  old  man,  and  had  made 
many  enemies ;  had  attempted  to  conciliate  no  one,  for 


88  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

all  opponents  he  regarded  as  his  enemies,  and  he  was 
defeated  in  his  canvass  for  re-election. 

Defeated  for  the  Senate,  his  desire  for  public  life  still 
continued,  and  he  offered  himself  as  a  candidate  for  the 
national  House  of  Representatives,  and  was  elected. 
Here  he  used  all  his  efforts  to  prevent  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise  Bill.  Defeated  for  re-election,  he 
became  a  candidate  in  1856  for  Governor  of  Missouri, 
and  stumped  the  State  with  all  the  vigor  of  a  young 
man,  attacking  all  opponents  in  the  strongest  personal 
language,  but  failed.  In  the  presidential  contest  of  that 
year  he  sustained  Buchanan  against  Fremont,  his  son-in- 
law,  on  the  ground  that  the  Republican  was  a  sectional 
party,  though  his  action  was  evidently  contrary  to  his 
feelings. 

With  the  end  of  his  political  career,  he  had  lost  none 
of  -his  energy  and  industry,  and  he  resumed  work  on  his 
"  Thirty  Years  View,"  the  first  volume  of  which  had 
appeared  in  1854.  He  completed  the  second  volume, 
and  then  engaged  on  an  "  Abridgment  of  the  Debates 
of  Congress  "  from  1789  to  1850,  in  15  volumes,  which 
he  finished  in  a  whisper  on  his  death  bed.  He  wrote, 
also,  a  review  of  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  and  proposed 
a  review  of  the  Pierce  Administration,  with  which  he 
was  not  in  sympathy,  but  he  did  not  write  it. 

In  presenting  the  statue  of  Colonel  Benton,  Senator 
Vest  said  of  him,  in  comparing  him  with  Webster,  Clay, 
and  Calhoun,  the  great  three  of  his  generation :  "  He 
was  not  as  an  orator  the  equal  of  Mr.  Clay;  he  was  not  the 
equal  of  Mr.  Webster  as  a  lawyer;  he  was  not  the  equal 
of  Mr.  Calhoun  as  a  close,  analytical  debater  and  dis 
putant;  but  he  was  the  superior  of  any  one  of  the  three 


THOMAS   HART   BENTON  89 

as  a  natural,  valuable,  all-around  legislator.  His  honesty 
was  above  question  ;  his  courage,  morally  and  physically, 
equal  to  that  of  an}^  man  who  ever  lived  upon  the  earth. 
His  4  Thirty  Years  View '  is  the  most  valuable  political 
treatise  in  our  history." 

It  can  be  said,  however,  of  this  Revieiv,  that  its  value 
would  be  much  increased,  if  it  had  been  less  Bentonian, 
less  occupied  with  the  part  he  had  taken  in  the  debates, 
and  more  with  that  of  other  statesmen. 

His  devotion  to  the  Union  was  deep,  and  if  he  had 
been  spared  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  his  loyalty  would 
have  been  unswerving  during  the  Civil  War. 

Colonel  Benton  had  not  been  popular  in  New  Eng 
land,  especially  in  Massachusetts,  largely  from  his  op 
position  to  the  fishing  bounties  given  to  vessels  that  were 
out  a  specified  time  engaged  in  cod  fishing.  As  an  in 
dication  of  the  feeling,  old  persons  remember  that,  in 
the  "  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too  "  campaign  of  1840,  one 
of  the  banners  had  a  picture  of  Benton  stranded  on  a 
rock,  scourged  with  a  fishing  rod,  with  the  words, 

"  For  Benton  a  rod, 
And  a  bounty  on  cod." 

It  should  be  said  in  his  defence,  that  he  was,  probably, 
influenced,  not  by  hostility  to  New  England,  but  by  his 
opposition  to  the  policy  of  giving  bounties.  At  a  re 
cent  meeting  of  the  "  OuldNewbury  Historical  Society," 
the  subject  was  introduced,  and  different  gentlemen  old 
enough  to  have  had  personal  knowledge  of  the  subject, 
and  to  have  been  engaged  in  the  business,  defended 
Benton,  and  spoke  of  the  frauds  committed  to  secure  the 
bounties.  Vessels  would  go  out  for  mackerel,  or  on 


90  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

other  business,  and  remain  the  required  time  and  claim 
the  bounty,  when  cod  had  not  been  fished  for.  Captain 
Nichols,  of  the  Custom  House,  an  honest  man,  incurred 
ill  will  by  refusing  to  pay  the  bounty  when  knowing  that 
perjury  had  been  used  to  obtain  it.  •  There  is  no  doubt 
that  for  political  and  other  reasons  Ben  ton  had  not  been 
an  admirer  of  this  section,  but  his  feelings  had  changed 
as  his  anti-slavery  sentiments  increased. 

In  the  autumn  of  1856  the  writer  was  one  of  the 
directors  of  the  Newburyport  Lyceum,  and,  wishing  to 
secure  the  success  of  the  course,  it  occurred  to  him  to 
write  to  Colonel  Benton  as  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
of  living  American  statesmen,  and  attractive  because 
personally  almost  unknown  in  New  England.  An  invi 
tation  to  come  and  lecture  was  accordingly  sent  to  him, 
suggesting  the  Union  as  a  subject.  He  replied  as  fol 
lows  :  "  I  have  meditated  delivering  a  lecture  this  winter 
in  different  places,  intended  for  practical  effect  in  the 
present  distracted  state  of  the  Union.  I  believe  there 
is  danger  of  disunion,  and  that  the  first  step  towards 
averting  that  danger  is  to  face  it  and  to  fathom  it. 
After  the  depth  and  nature  of  the  disease  are  known 
the  remedy  can  be  considered,  which  must  be  concilia 
tion —  an  application  to  all  the  feelings  of  patriotism, 
national  pride,  and  mutual  interest,  which  certainly  ani 
mate  the  great  majority  in  both  sections  of  the  Union, 
and  an  attempt  to  unite  them  in  a  course  of  conduct 
which  should  have  iiarmony  and  reconciliation  for  its 
object.  The  subject  is  a  large  one,  and,  besides  requiring 
care  and  knowledge  in  the  preparation  of  the  lecture, 
would  require  double  the  usual  time  in  delivery  —  say, 
two  hours.  If  I  go  into  it  at  all  it  will  be  to  produce 


THOMAS    HART   BENTON 


91 


effect,  and,  therefore,  to  be  delivered  in  many  places, 
and  to  thinking  audiences,  such  as  a  literary  institution 
and  moderate-priced  tickets  could  collect.  I  have  never 
received  anything  for  lectures,  leaving  all  the  proceeds 
to  the  institutions  whose  invitations  I  have  accepted ; 
but  if  I  should  go  into  the  business  for  a  winter's  work, 
I  should  expect  the  interest  to  be  mutual,"  etc.  With 
out  giving  a  definite  answer  he  invited  further  corre 
spondence. 

I  replied  that  such  a  lecture  would  be  very  acceptable 
to  us,  and,  coming  from  one  of  his  age  and  long  public 
service,  must  have  a  marked  effect.  Mr.  Everett  had 
gone  from  city  to  city  delivering  his  lecture  on  Wash 
ington  ;  and  how  much  greater  would  be  the  service, 
and  how  much  deeper  the  gratitude  of  his  countrymen, 
for  the  discussion  of  a  nobler  theme  even  than  Washing 
ton,  "The  Union  and  its  Preservation." 

After  a  little  negotiation  he  decided  to  come,  and  the 
details  as  to  terms  and  time  were  arranged. 

I  met  him  at  the  Tremont  House  in  Boston  as  pre 
viously  agreed.  Sending  in  my  card,  though  early  in 
the  morning,  he  requested  me  to  come  to  his  room,  where 
I  found  him,  not  yet  dressed,  in  a  loose  wrapper,  with  a 
cap  on  his  head,  sitting  at  a  table  writing.  And  this 
was  my  first  interview  with  one  I  had  long  wished  to 
see,  "  Old  Bullion,"  the  close  friend  of  General  Jackson ; 
the  man  for  years  so  cordially  hated  and  hating;  the 
survivor  of  that  long  list  of  able  men  clustering  around 
Webster,  Clay,  and  Calhoun,  who  was  more  familiar 
with  our  legislation,  and  had  more  participation  in  it, 
than  any  other  living  person. 

He  spoke  of  the  attention  he  was  receiving  ;  that  Mr. 


92  BIOGRAPHICAL  AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

Everett,  Mr.  Winthrop,  and  other  well-known  gentle 
men,  had  at  once  called  on  him ;  said  he  had  agreed  to 
favor  a  photograph  artist ;  "  we  must  gratify  these  peo 
ple,  you  know;"  and  after  some  general  conversation, 
informing  him  when  I  must  call  for  him,  I  took  my 
leave. 

After  it  was  announced  that  he  was  to  lecture  in 
Newburyport  he  received  many  invitations  from  other 
places,  and,  as  he  was  ignorant  of  their  localities,  he 
requested  me  to  arrange  for  him  the  dates,  so  that  for 
some  days  I  was  much  in  his  company;  and  I  was 
naturally  interested  to  hear  his  views  of  men  and  things, 
and  to  study  the  man.  He  was  very  communicative, 
never  hesitating  to  speak  with  the  utmost  freedom  of 
any  individual,  living  or  deceased,  or  of  any  measure. 
He  used  strong  language,  sometimes  not  quite  choice, 
accompanied  frequently  with  that  emphasis  of  tone  and 
manner  for  which  he  had  been  noted  in  the  Senate  ;  and 
not  rarely,  as  in  the  case  of  General  Jackson,  an  exple 
tive  would  be  introduced  which  a  New  England  Puritan 
might  not  have  approved. 

The  lecture  which  he  came  to  deliver,  as  stated,  was 
on  the  Union.  It  was  in  November,  following  the  ex 
citing  presidential  campaign,  in  which  the  two  parties 
occupied  substantially  the  same  position  as  in  1860,  and 
which  would  probably  have  been  followed  by  the  same 
results  had  Fremont  been  elected.  He  urged  that 
the  agitation  of  the  slavery  question  should  cease,  both 
North  and  South.  He  blamed  both  sections  for  the  ex 
isting  alienation  and  bitterness,  and  thought  we  should 
endeavor  to  cultivate  the  harmony  and  forbearance  of 
former  days.  He  depicted  in  forcible  language  the 


THOMAS    HART   BENTON 

blessings  of  union,  and  the  evils  of  disunion,  to  North 
and  South — showed  how  closely  our  interests  are  inter 
woven —  how  connected  with  our  prosperity  was  the 
union,  and  that  as  two  nations  we  could  not  live  in 
peace.  Slavery,  customs,  the  navigation  of  the  Missis 
sippi,  and  other  elements  of  discord  would  continually 
excite  ill-will,  if  not  war. 

The  lecture  contained  nothing  original,  but  was  care 
fully   prepared   and  able,  and  evidently  expressed  the 
earnest  convictions  of   the  author.      His  elocution  was 
not  specially  attractive.     He  used  few  gestures,  and  had 
but  little    animation,  though  at  times   a  few  words  and 
sentences  would  be  marked  by  strong  emphasis.     Some 
times  his  voice  would  sink  to  a  whisper,  or  rather  his 
words   would   be   hissed   out.     He  spoke  for  about  two 
hours,  and  the  reputation  of  the  man  caused  him  to  be 
listened  to  with  attention,  though  hardly  with  enthu 
siasm,  for  his  politics  had  never  been  popular  in  Massa 
chusetts.      The  fear  of  disunion  did  not  then  generally 
prevail  in  New  England,  but  was  regarded  as  the  dream 
of  croakers  and  timid  men.     It  had  been  so  long  threat 
ened  that   our  ears    had  become  familiar   with  it,  and 
though    the    audience  respected   the  convictions    of   so 
aged  and  honored  a   statesman  as  Colonel  Benton,  that 
he  should  be  so  disturbed  by  such  forebodings  seemed 
rather  an  indication  of  his  mental  decay.     They  did  not 
know  _  they  could  not   know  —  that  he  was  depicting 
what  was  to  be  fulfilled  in  their  time  with  all  the  horrors 
of  our  terrible  Civil  War.     The  audience  was  very  large, 
for  the  fame  of  the  man  had  brought  many  from  a  great 
distance.     He   was  much  pleased  with  their  attention, 
and  said  to  me:  "They  sat  like  statues  —  I  could  have 


94  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

heard  a  pin  drop.  The  sacredness  of  the  church  did  not 
restrain  their  applause." 

He  declined  proffers  of  private  hospitality,  saying  as 
a  public  man  he  had  never  accepted  it.  The  next  day 
was  Thanksgiving,  however,  and  he  accepted  an  invita 
tion  to  dine  with  the  Hon.  Albert  Currier,  and  ex 
pressed  himself  as  happy  to  be  able  to  celebrate  with  us 
our  time-honored  festival.  In  the  afternoon,  with  a  party 
of  gentlemen,  he  rode  to  Plum  Island,  and  gazed  for  a 
long  time,  much  absorbed,  on  the  rolling  waves,  and  the 
ships  in  the  distance.  I  think  he  remarked  that  it  was 
his  first  visit  to  the  seaside. 

During  the  days  that  I  spent  in  his  company  I  noted 
down  many  of  his  remarks,  most  of  which  were  in  reply 
to  questions. 

"  Tyler  was  a  trifling  man,  and  to  this  characteristic 
he  owed  his  preservation  at  the  bursting  of  the  big  gun 
of  the  Princeton.  Word  had  been  given  that  a  song 
was  to  be  sung  in  the  cabin,  and  he  rushed  down  to  hear 
it.  I  was  also  saved  by  my  characteristic  habit  of  in 
quiry  and  investigation.  I  had  been  going  around  all 
day  inquiring  into  everything,  and  as  a  compliment  to 
my  business  habits  was  invited  to  witness  the  firing,  and 
had  just  before  been  requested  to  change  my  position 
that  the  smoke  might  not  prevent  my  view.  He  was  a 
man  of  great  good  luck.  It  was  a  common  observation 
that  whoever  stood  in  the  way  of  Tyler  and  his  advance 
ment  would  die,  and  so  they  predicted  the  early  death 
of  Harrison." 

In  speaking  of  Mr.  Clay,  he  said  that  he  once  terribly 
retorted  on  a  South  Carolina  man.  "  Mr.  Clay  had  cen 
sured  severely  some  disunion  sentiments  which  had  been 


THOMAS   HAE,T   BENTON  95 

uttered,  when  this  man  rose  and  said  that  the  author 
was  a  relation  of  his.  Mr.  Clay  rose  to  his  full  height, 
his  eyes  flashed  fire,  and  in  a  voice  of  thunder  he  ex 
claimed  :  '  I  care  not  whose  relation  he  is  —  he  is  a 
traitor  who  utters  such  sentiments.'  Great  God!  It 
sank  him  to  the  earth,  sir.  He  was  never  heard  of 
afterwards. 

"  Mr.  Cass  was  very  timid  — afraid  to  take  a  decided 
stand.  Mr.  Wright  (referring  to  Silas  Wright)  truly 
said  of  him :  c  He  is  amiable,  but  afraid  of  his  own 
shadow.'  Though  very  amiable  in  his  private  relations, 
never  quarrelling  with  any  one,  in  the  Senate  he  was 
always  for  a  war  with  England.  He  uttered  so  often  in 
his  speeches,  '  War  is  inevitable,'  that  it  became  a  by 
word.  I  once  turned  it  on  him,  to  the  amusement  of  the 
Senate.  After  one  of  his  speeches  I  rose,  and,  speaking 
of  the  little  danger  of  war,  ended  with  his  words  changed 
— '  Peace  is  inevitable.' 

"  Douglas  was  driven  into  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  by 
the  Southerners, —  Atchison,  and  others, —  the  fire-eaters 
of  the  South.  They  threatened  to  drop  him  if  he  would 
not  take  hold  of  it. 

"  To  advocate  disunion  is  to  gain  the  favor  of  this  ad 
ministration  (that  of  Pierce).  The  last  foreign  appoint 
ment  was  that  of  an  editor  from  Mobile  to  Mexico, 
whose  last  editorial  was  in  favor  of  disunion.  Those 
disunion  editors  from  Richmond,  vulgar  dogs,  get  the 
appointments.  One  wrote  that  nasty,  stinking  letter 
from  Turin.  As  soon  as  it  was  known  there,  they 
dropped  him,  sir,  —  would  not  notice  him  at  all  in  that 
refined  circle,  —  paid  him  only  the  attention  due  a  repre 
sentative  from  the  United  States  —  made  a  distinction 


96  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER   ARTICLES 

between  the  man  and  the  representative  —  you  under 
stand,  sir." 

I  remarked  to  him  that  his  great  vigor  surprised  me, 
and  his  erect  and  youthful  appearance,  so  different  from 
what  I  had  expected  in  one  of  his  age.  He  replied : 
"  That  reminds  me  of  what  occurred  in  Missouri  last 
summer.  Two  anti-Benton  men  wished  to  get  a  look 
at  me,  for  the  first  time,  but  would  not  come  into  the 
room,  and  so  peeped  in  at  the  door.  I  was  standing  up 
engaged  in  an  animated  conversation  with  some  friends, 
and,  I  suppose,  I  looked  more  vigorous  than  usual,  and 
one  turned  to  the  other  and  said  ;  4  Good  God  !  we  shall 
have  to  fight  him  these  twenty  years ! '  I  keep  my 
health  by  horse-back  riding.  I  might  be  taken  by  a 
foreigner  for  Gen.  Pelissier  on  my  black  horse.  But 
few  ride  so  well  as  I  ride.  I  was  once  when  riding  on 
my  black  horse,  with  my  little  grandson  at  my  side  on  a 
white  pony,  taken  for  a  riding  master  by  a  foreigner. 
Few  public  men  have  kept  horses  to  ride.  Mr.  Randolph 
was  an  exception  who  rode  much  on  horse-back. 

"  Contrary  to  the  general  opinion,  Mr.  Randolph  was 
very  industrious,  and  labored  hard  in  the  committee- 
room.  My  seal  (exhibiting  it)  was  given  me  by  him 
after  his  duel  with  Mr.  Clay.  He  ordered  it  for  me 
in  London,  searching  out  the  coat-of-arms  of  the  Benton 
family.  He  said  the  motto  should  be,  Factis  et  verbis 
instead  of,  Factis  non  verbis" 

In  speaking  of  the  industry  of  public  men  he  re 
marked  :  "  John  Quincy  Adams  was  the  most  indus 
trious  man  I  ever  knew.  I  have  been  compared  to  him 
in  this  respect,  though  I  cannot  compliment  myself  so 
highly.  I  am  now  engaged  on  my  4  Abridgment  of  the 


THOMAS   HABT  BENTON  97 

Debates  of  Congress '  in  about  sixteen  volumes,  which 
will  occupy  me  two  years.  I  hope  to  live  till  1860,  and 
the  remaining  two  years  I  intend  to  devote  to  a  history 
of  this  Administration."  He  evidently  did  not  have  an 
exalted  opinion  of  Mr.  Pierce  and  his  Administration, 
and,  in  reply  to  a  gentleman  who  wished  his  aid  for  an 
office,  replied  that  he  had  no  influence  at  Washington. 
"  Mr.  Pierce,"  he  said,  "  has  the  high  honor  to  have 
come  in  almost  unanimously,  and  he  will  go  out  with  as 
great  unanimity.  At  the  Cincinnati  convention  he  did 
not  know  that  Douglas  had  withdrawn,  and  was  pre 
sented  in  the  pitiable  position  of  hanging  on  to  the  last 
hope  for  a  nomination."  I  asked  him  what  influence 
determined  the  result  at  that  convention.  "  An  outside 
pressure,"  he  replied,  referring  by  his  manner,  without  a 
doubt,  to  himself,  "  decided  the  nomination." 

In  reply  to  a  remark  that  Mr.  Buchanan  did  not  seem 
to  have  much  decision,  he  observed  :  "  It  is  too  true,  he 
is  not  a  firm,  decided  man  —  he  is  too  apt  to  be  swayed 
by  others."  I  asked  if  he  had  any  opinion  who  would 
constitute  his  Cabinet,  and  he  said :  "  God  Almighty 
knows  — I  don't." 

Alluding  to  the  aged  living  statesmen,  he  said :  "  I 
am  much  younger  than  Cass,  Van  Buren,  and  the  other 
statesmen  of  my  age,  much  more  vigorous  than  Bu 
chanan.  Last  summer  I  made  forty  addresses  in  Mis 
souri,  of  two  or  three  hours  each,  to  acres  of  people, 
under  a  solstitial  sun,  in  successive  days,  and  travelled 
1200  miles,  over  rough  roads,  unlike  yours  in  New  Eng 
land.  I  have  been  careful  in  all  my  habits.  Too  many 

public  men  in  Washington  lead  immoral  lives.    Mr. • 

(naming  a  distinguished  New  England  statesman)  thus 


98  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

shortened  his  days  and  purse.  I  have  never  employed 
a  letter  writer." 

I  spoke  of  Silas  Wright  as  an  able  debater,  and  asked 
how  he  would  compare  with  Mr.  Webster.  "  They  are 
very  unlike.  Mr.  Webster  was  more  labored  and 
rhetorical.  The  arguments  of  Mr.  Wright  seemed  to  be 
evolved  naturally  from  the  subject  —  he  was  very 
simple  and  amiable." 

In  riding  through  Wenham,  I  pointed  out  to  him  the 
old  farmhouse  of  Timothy  Pickering,  calling  his  atten 
tion  to  the  row  of  fine  larch  trees  planted  by  his  hand. 
"I  remember,"  he  said,  "reading  in  a  letter  of  Mr. 
Pickering's  where  he  spoke  of  his  fondness  for  baked 
apples,  the  apples  taken  from  trees  planted  by  himself. 
I  knew  he  must  be  a  man  of  simple  habits,  for  no  one 
who  has  pampered  his  stomach  by  spices  and  rich  food 
would  relish  so  simple  a  diet  as  baked  apples." 

u  I  am  five  feet  eleven  inches  in  height,  and  weigh 
210  Ibs.  I  have  eight  grandchildren,  three  of  them 
children  of  Mr.  Fremont." 

A  gentleman  remarked  to  him  that  many  here  were 
very  much  attached  to  Mr.  Fremont.  "  I  shall  not  quar 
rel  with  them  for  that.  I  did  not  support  him,  because 
I  could  not  then  have  delivered  the  address  I  am  now 
giving.  They  told  many  lies  about  him.  The  one  in 
regard  to  his  Catholicism  was  designed  to  act  against 
him  doubly  —  if  believed,  it  would  alienate  the  Protes 
tants  —  if  denied,  the  Catholics." 

It  was  remarked  to  him  that  he  had  been  received 
very  kindly  in  New  England,  yet  he  had  always  been 
regarded  as  hostile  to  us,  allusion  being  made  to  his  op 
position  to  the  fishing  bounties.  We  had  welcomed  him, 


THOMAS   HABT   BENTON  99 

yet  if  one  of  us  opposed  to  slavery  were  to  go  South, 
he  would  be  exposed  to  personal  violence.  "  It  is  true," 
he  said  warmly.  "  I  wish  I  had  spoken  of  it  in  my 
lecture." 

I  alluded  to  the  "  squatter  sovereignty  "  views  of  Mr. 
Douglas,  when  he  dropped  the  pen  with  which  he  had 
been  writing,  threw  back  his  head,  and  extended  both 
arms  to  give  emphasis  to  his  words  :  "  Squatter  sover 
eignty  !  — it  is  an  insane,  demagogical  idea,  taken  up  by 
the  timidity  of  old  Cass,  as  unreasonable  as  it  is  for  a 
child  to  be  independent  of  its  father.  I  am  opposed  to 
the  farther  extension  of  slavery,"  speaking  with  much 
warmth. 

To  the  observation  that  few  men  had  ever  acted  as  he 
did,  "  solitary  and  alone,"  in  originating  and  carrying 
through  the  "  expunging  resolution,"  he  replied,  "  If  I 
had  consulted  others,  I  should  never  have  done  anything. 
There  are  always  timid  people  to  hold  one  back." 

He  quoted  Edward  Everett  as  telling  him  that  his  ad 
dress  was  received  with  much  favor  in  Boston,  and  that 
no  one  but  himself  could  have  given  it. 

I  alluded  again  to  the  impression  that  he  was  hostile 
to  New  England,  saying  it  might  have  originated  from 
his  course  in  the  great  debate  between  Webster  and 
Hayne.  He  said,  "  My  feelings  at  that  time  were  all 
Southern,  and  I  did  not  then  believe  they  entertained 
disunion  sentiments.  I  supposed  they  simply  meant 
nullification  in  the  Virginia  sense,  which  was  simply  re 
monstrance.  I  do  not  think  Hayne  had  disunion  views 
then,  though  he  was  drawn  into  them  a  few  years  after, 
but  Calhoun  had.  Webster  saw  through  their  disunion 
schemes  before  I  did." 


100  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER   ARTICLES 

"  The  thirty  years  I  was  in  the  Senate  will  stand  as 
the  most  momentous  in  our  country's  history." 

"  I  have  known  all  the  Presidents  since  Jefferson  inti 
mately,  and  him  to  some  extent." 

"  Douglas  is  now  farther  from  the  presidency  than 
ever." 

"The  abolition  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  killed 
poor  old  Cass." 

"  Mr.  Clayton  was  a  very  indolent  man.  He  was  ac 
customed  to  take  off  his  clothes  and  go  to  bed  at  two 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  His  soft-looking  flesh  indicated 
his  habits." 

He  asked  me  if  Taunton,  from  which  he  had  an  invi 
tation  to  lecture,  was  not  the  home  of  the  man  who,  after 
so  many  trials,  was  elected  governor  by  one  vote,  refer 
ring  to  Governor  Morton.  He  referred,  also,  to  the 
election  bet  by  which  Maj.  Ben  :  Perley  Poore  wheeled 
a  barrel  of  apples  to  Boston. 

An  .invitation  came  to  him  from  Manchester,  N.H., 
and  he  asked  me  if  he  could  take  that  place  on  his  way 
to  Maine,  where  he  had  some  engagements.  I  told  him 
he  must  return  to  Lawrence.  He  said,  "  I  must  decline, 
then,  for  I  never  like  to  take  the  back  track."  He  after 
wards  concluded,  however,  to  go,  as  it  was  in  the  Granite 
State,  for  which  he  seemed  to  have  an  affection. 

Wishing  him  to  write  in  my  autograph  album,  he  com 
plied  as  follows : 

"Thomas  H.  Benton,  of  Missouri,  Senator  in  the  Con 
gress  of  the  United  States  for  thirty  years,  and  all  that 
time  devoted  to  the  harmony,  the  stability,  and  the  per 
petuity  of  the  Union." 

I  introduced  to  him  Capt.  William  Nichols,  an  old  sea 


THOMAS    HART   BENTOK 

captain  and  privateersman,  of  Newburyport,  who  in  the 
war  of  1812,  had,  by  his  bravery,  captured  twenty-seven 
English  vessels.  He  was  much  gratified  by  the  inter 
view,  and  expressed  his  warm  approval  of  the  whole  sys 
tem  of  privateering.  He  requested  me  to  write  out  an. 
account  of  the  adventures  of  Captain  Nichols,  and  send 
it  to  him.  I  did  so,  and  received  the  following  reply  : 

WASHINGTON  CITY,  April  14,  1857. 

I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  the  letter  giving  me  an  account 
of  the  vessels  which  he  captured  during  the  war  of  1812.  His 
name  and  exploits  shall  appear  in  the  notes  of  the  "  Abridgement 
of  the  Debates  of  Congress,"  which  I  am  drawing  up,  and  will 
constitute  a  part  of  the  answer  to  the  suicidal  policy  of  the  late 
Administration  to  give  up  privateering,  which  I  consider  as  cut 
ting  off  our  right  arm  in  naval  warfare. 

Respect'ly,  etc., 

THOMAS  H.  BENTON 

Colonel  Benton  died  in  Washington,  April  10,  1858, 
after  a  lingering  illness,  less  than  a  year  and  a  half  after 
his  New  England  lecture  tour,  when  he  seemed  so  vigor 
ous  and  hoped  for  years  of  life.  He  was  buried  in  La  Belle 
Fontaine  Cemetery,  St.  Louis,  in  the  presence  of  forty 
thousand  people.  He  had  labored  and  retained  his  men 
tal  faculties  and  interest  in  public  affairs  to  the  last.  His 
personal  appearance  was  striking,  and  he  would  any 
where  have  attracted  attention.  At  the  close  of  his  life 
he  was  erect,  his  head  thrown  back,  and  he  walked  and 
looked,  as  he  felt,  with  the  air  and  pride  of  an  American 
sovereign.  He  was  never  more  useful,  never  more  re 
spected,  than  during  his  last  few  years  for  his  honesty 
and  independence,  after  he  had  lost  political  influence 
in  his  State  and  with  the  national  Administration.  He 


102  BIOGRAPHIOAL   AND  OTHER   ARTICLES 

had  risen  above  partisanship  and  sectionalism,  which 
had  at  times  characterized  his  career,  and  showed  him 
self  anxious  only  for  his  country  and  her  preservation 
from  the  internal  enemies  seeking  to  destroy  her.  Every 
foe  of  the  Union  was  his  foe  and  his  personal  enemy. 
If  he  had  lived  to  see  the  Civil  War,  which  he  had 
dreaded,  and  which  burst  forth  so  soon  after  his  de 
cease,  there  can  be  no  doubt  what  would  have  been 
his  position,  and  how  his  influence  would  have  been 
exerted. 

He  was  a  devoted  husband,  and  from  1844,  when  his 
wife  was  prostrated  by  a  paralytic  shock,  to  1854,  when 
she  died,  all  the  time  he  could  spare  from  business 
he  spent  by  her  side  in  the  sick-room.  He  died  poor, 
though  from  government  influence  he  could  easily  have 
become  rich ;  the  politicians  of  to-day  will  laugh  at  his 
simplicity.  He  was  moral  and  temperate  in  his  habits, 
and  abstained  from  tobacco,  gaming,  and  liquors,  saying 
he  obeyed  his  mother's  request.  He  was  courteous  and 
gentlemanly  in  his  general  intercourse,  but  was  easily 
provoked,  and  never  shrank  from  a  contest,  whatever 
might  be  its  nature.  Towards  the  close  of  his  life  he 
manifested  a  power  of  invective  and  sarcasm  unknown 
to  his  earlier  speeches,  and  which  John  Randolph  might 
have  envied. 

Under  no  circumstances  of  adversity  did  he  ever  lose 
courage  and  despond.  When  an  old  man,  and  his  house 
in  Washington  was  burned  with  its  contents,  including 
many  valuable  papers  that  could  not  be  replaced,  and 
on  which  he  much  depended  in  his  contemplated  publi 
cations,  hastily  summoned  from  the  Capitol,  he  looked 
on  calmly,  and  gave  directions  without  a  murmur. 


THOMAS   HART  BENTON  103 

Able,  industrious,  surpassed  by  few  of  the  remarkable 
statesmen  of  his  day  in  historical  and  political  informa 
tion,  fearless,  wilful,  passionate,  egotistical,  true  to  his 
friends  and  never  forgetting  his  enemies,  persevering, 
unyielding,  his  memory  is  stronger  to-day,  and  more 
respected  in  Missouri  and  the  country,  than  ever  before. 
He  will  ever  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  illustrious 
of  American  statesmen,  as  he  certainly  was  one  of  the 
most  influential. 


TIMOTHY  DEXTER,  KNOWN   AS  "LORD 
TIMOTHY  DEXTER," 

OF  NEWBURYPORT,  MASS. 

AN    INQUIRY  INTO    HIS    LIFE    AND    TRUE 
CHARACTER 


THE  writer  lost,  years  ago,  much  of  his  faith  in  history 
and  tradition.  Events  are  misstated;  good  and  wise 
men  are  represented  as  wicked  and  foolish,  and  virtue 
and  greatness  bestowed  on  the  undeserving.  After  cen 
turies,  often,  men  and  actions  are  shown  to  have  been 
entirely  misjudged,  and,  in  some  cases,  as  in  that  of 
William  Tell,  history  becomes  pure  fiction.1 

The  "  hatchet  "  story  of  George  Washington,  believed 

1  An  amusing  illustration  of  one  of  these  persistent  and  popularly  cher 
ished  fictions,  which  even  Senator  Lodge  accepts  in  his  "  Story  of  the 
Revolution,"  has  recently  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  writer.  Accord 
ing  to  all  histories  of  the  United  States,  Ethan  Allen  demanded  from  the 
British  commander  the  surrender  of  Ticonderoga,  "  in  the  name  of  the  Great 
Jehovah  and  the  Continental  Congress."  Prof.  James  D.  Butler,  D.D., 
LL.D.,  of  Madison,  Wis.,  has  informed  me  that  his  grandfather,  Israel 
Harris,  was  present,  and  had  often  told  him  that  Ethan  Allen's  real  language 
was,  "  Come  out  of  here,  you  d — d  old  rat." 

The  late  Peter  Butler  told  me  that  he  was  acquainted  with  Israel  Harris, 
and  that  he  had  never  known  a  man  more  truthful.  It  is  hard  to  believe  that  a 
man  of  Ethan  Allen's  culture  could  have  uttered  such  a  grand  sentence  as 
history  has  put  into  his  mouth,  especially  in  the  excitement  of  such  a  moment. 
Professor  Butler  is  a  clergyman,  and  one  of  the  most  active  members  of  the 
Wiconsin  Historical  Society. 

104 


TIMOTHY  DEXTER  105 

by  many  to  be  veritable  history,  according  to  James 
Parton  first  appeared  in  Weem's  "  Life  of  Washington," 
whose  author  credited  to  Washington  all  the  stories  he 
could  find  of  a  good  little  boy,  and  it  made  his  book 
very  popular.  Abraham  Lincoln  read  it  when  a  boy, 
and  was  enthusiastic  over  it. 

Timothy  Dexter,  or  Lord  Timothy  Dexter,  as  he  was 
generally  called,  had  a  peculiar  and  enduring  celebrity. 
Many  distinguished  men  have  lived  in  Newburyport, 
yet  the  home  of  no  one  else  is  so  frequently  asked  for 
by  strangers  in  that  city,  and  in  all  parts  of  the  country 
when  the  writer  has  spoken  of  residing  there,  the  first 
exclamation  has  been,  "  Ah !  that  was  the  home  of  Lord 
Timothy  Dexter  !  "  He  has  been  regarded  as  the  most 
marked  example  of  a  man  of  feeble  intellect  gaining 
wealth  purely  by  luck.  However  unwise  seemed  the 
speculation  into  which  he  was  drawn  by  his  own  folly, 
or  by  suggestions  from  others  made  in  joke,  it  always 
resulted  in  large  gains,  and  the  stories  are  still  fresh  and 
often  repeated,  fourscore  years  since  his  decease,  of  his 
sending  warming  pans  and  Bibles  to  the  West  Indies, 
etc.,  etc.  These  stories  have  been  received,  too,  without 
a  question  of  their  truth,  even  in  the  place  where  he 
lived,  and  have  been  endorsed  by  every  history  of  New 
buryport,  and  a  respectable  magazine  recently  published 
them  as  real  history.  It  may  be  well,  then,  at  a  time  when 
the  credibility  of  so  much  in  the  past,  important  and 
unimportant,  is  subjected  to  criticism,  to  examine  the 
correctness  of  the  popular  estimate  of  this  man,  whose 
name  is  so  familiar  when  so  many  distinguished  men  of 
his  time  have  been  forgotten.  So  prominent  was  he  that 
Samuel  L.  Knapp,  a  well-known  literary  man,  author  of 


106  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

the  first  "  Life  of  Daniel  Webster,"  who  came  to  New- 
buryport  to  reside  two  years  after  Dexter's  death,  and 
had  often  seen  him,  thought  fit  to  write  his  life,  now  a 
rare  book,  though  several  times  republished. 

The  late  John  A.  Lewis  first  suggested  to  the  writer, 
then  residing  in  Newburyport,  to  examine  the  authen 
ticity  of  the  Dexter  stories  as  given  by  Knapp,  which 
he  believed  to  be  a  fiction.  Mr.  Lewis  was,  prob 
ably,  better  informed  in  early  New  England  history  than 
any  other  man  of  his  time,  and  collected  the  rare  and 
valuable  library  of  "  Americana  "  which  after  his  decease 
Mrs.  Lewis  gave  to  the  Boston  Public  Library.  The 
suggestion  of  Mr.  Lewis  led  to  this  account,  as  is  be 
lieved,  of  the  real  Dexter. 

Timothy  Dexter  was  born  in  Maiden,  Mass.,  Jan. 
22,  1747.  He  learned  the  trade  of  a  leather  dresser,  an 
occupation  then  popular  and  profitable,  and  at  the  age 
of  twenty-one  commenced  business  for  himself  in 
Charlestown,  where  leather-dressing  was  much  carried 
on,  and  by  his  industry  and  economy  was  from  the 
first  successful.  He  early  married  the  widow  of  a 
glazier,  nine  years  his  senior,  whose  husband  had  left  her 
considerable  property.  She  was  Elizabeth  Lord,  daugh 
ter  of  John  Lord,  of  Exeter,  N.H.,  and  her  first  husband 
was  Benjamin  Frothingham,  of  Newbury,  who  was  born 
April  30,  1717,  and  died  June  1,  1769.  She  was  an  in 
dustrious  and  frugal  worn  an,  and  by  keeping  a  huckster's 
shop  added  to  her  husband's  income,  so  that  Dexter 
soon  had  several  thousand  dollars  in  specie  at  his  com 
mand,  which  he  was  anxious  to  invest  profitably.  It 
was  when  continental  money  was  so  depreciated,  and 
he  had  learned  that  Governor  Hancock  and  Thomas 


TIMOTHY   DEXTER  107 

Russell,  a  noted  merchant,  had  been  buying  up  this 
paper  at  a  small  part  of  its  face  value,  and  in  imitation 
of  them  he  began  to  do  the  same.  He  probably  made 
better  bargains,  too,  because  he  bought  in  small  quanti 
ties,  of  poor  holders,  obliged  to  sell  for  what  they  could 
get.  He  was  fortunate  in  his  purchase,  as  were  all 
others  of  that  day  and  during  our  late  war  who  had 
faith  in  the  government.  The  funding  scheme  of  Ham 
ilton  gave  this  depreciated  paper  its  par  value,  and  he 
soon  found  himself  a  rich  man  for  that  period,  and  be 
came  an  operator  in  the  stocks  of  the  day,  which  were 
constantly  advancing. 

With  wealth  came  different  and  large  ideas.  As  he 
had  become  rich  like  Hancock  and  Russell,  his  vanity 
led  him  to  think  himself  their  equal,  and  entitled  to  the 
same  consideration.  Finding  that  he  was  not  received 
into  the  best  society  as  they  were,  he  sought  another 
home  where  he  would  be  better  appreciated,  and  finally 
fixed  upon  Newburyport.  His  wife's  associations  with  the 
place  probably  also  influenced  his  decision.  This  was  at 
that  time  a  town  of  much  wealth  and  commercial  im 
portance,  the  third  in  the  State  in  population,  occupying 
a  very  different  position  relatively  from  its  present  rank. 
John  Quincy  Adams,  a  law  student,  then  with  the  cele 
brated  Theophilus  Parsons,  used  to  say  that  he  found 
better  society  there  than  at  Washington.  Harrison  Gray 
Otis,  who  was  often  there  when  a  young  man,  bore  simi 
lar  testimony ;  and  Talleyrand  and  other  distinguished 
strangers  who  visited  it  praised  warmly  its  generous 
hospitality,  its  air  of  wealth  and  refinement,  and  the 
beauty  of  its  long  High  Street. 

Real  estate  was  low,  as  several  large  failures  had  oc- 


108  BIOGRAPHICAL  AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

curred,  and  Dexter  bought  and  occupied  one  of  the  best 
houses    in   the  town,   that    now   used   for    the   Public 
Library,   but   he    soon   removed   to   another   house    on 
High  Street,  with  ten  acres  of  land,  which  he  fitted  up 
in  a  manner  worthy  of  his  estimate  of  himself.     He  laid 
out  the  grounds  after  what  he  was  told  was  the  Euro 
pean  style,  and  had  fruits,  flowers,  and  shrubbery  of  many 
varieties  planted  in  them.     He  put  minarets  on  the  roof 
of  the   house,  surmounted  with  gilt  balls,  and  in  front 
placed  rows  of  columns  fifteen  feet  high,  —  about  40  in 
all,  —  each  having  on  its  top  a  statue  of  some  distin 
guished  man.     Before  the  door  were  two  lions  on  each 
side,  with  open  mouths,  to  guard  the  entrance.     On  an 
arch,  and  occupying  the  most  prominent  position,  were 
the  statues  of  Washington,  Adams,  and  Jefferson,  and 
to  the  other  statues  he  gave  the  names  of  Bonaparte, 
Nelson,  Franklin,  and  other  heroes,  often  changing  them 
according  to  his  fancy.     In  a  conspicuous  place  was  a 
statue  of  himself,  with  the  inscription,  "I  am  the  first  in 
the  East,  the  first  in  the  West,  and  the  greatest  philoso 
pher  in  the  Western  world."     All  these  statues  were 
carved  in  wood  by  a  young  ship-carver,  Joseph  Wilson, 
who  had  just  come  to  Newburyport.    They  were  gaudily 
painted,  and  though  having  but  little  merit  as  works  of 
art,  and  less  as  likenesses,  gave  the  house  a  strange  ap 
pearance,  and  attracted  crowds,  whose  curiosity  deeply 
gratified  the  owner,  and  he  freely  opened  his  grounds  to 
them.     Knapp  says  these  images  cost  $15,000 ;  but  an 
old  gentleman,  who  remembered  Dexter  and  knew  the 
artist,  has  told  me  the  price  was  $100  for  each,  and  that 
Dexter  made  as  sharp  a  bargain  as  he  could  with  the 
artist,  as  he  did  with  every  one.     Wishing  his  house  to 


TIMOTHY   DEXTER  109 

be  in  all  respects  equal  to  those  of  Hancock  and  Russell, 
he  imported  from  France  expensive  furniture  and  works 
of  art,  as  they  had  done,  and  bought  many  costly  books, 
as  he  knew  they  had  fine  libraries.  Having  made  him 
self  a  "  lord,"  he  bought  good  horses  and  an  elegant 
coach,  on  which  he  caused  to  be  conspicuously  painted  a 
coat  of  arms  taken  from  a  book  of  heraldry,  in  imitation 
of  European  lords.  Ranking  himself  with  the  nobility, 
he  showed  much  commiseration  for  the  sufferings  of  the 
higher  classes  during  the  French  Revolution,  caused  the 
bells  to  be  tolled  on  the  death  of  Louis  XVI.,  and  sent 
out  an  invitation  to  the  survivors  of  the  royal  family  to 
become  his  guests.  In  expectation  of  their  acceptance 
he  laid  in  a  large  stock  of  provisions,  which  rose  on  his 
hands,  an  act  of  Providence,  as  he  said,  to  reward  him 
for  his  good  intentions,  but  according  to  the  popular 
idea,  another  instance  of  his  unfailing  good  luck. 

He  had  a  tomb  constructed  in  his  garden,  and  having 
heard  that  some  great  man  had  had  his  coffin  made  dur 
ing  his  life,  he  also  caused  a  coffin  to  be  made  of  ma 
hogany,  with  silver  handles,  expensively  lined,  which  he 
kept  in  his  house  and  used  to  exliibit  to  his  guests.  An 
old  gentleman  has  told  me  within  a  few  days  that  he 
remembers  when  a  boy  looking  in  at  the  window  to 
see  it. 

With  no  regular  business,  and  restless,  Dexter  gave 
himself  up  to  his  whims,  was  much  of  the  time  in  a  state 
of  intoxication,  and  was  occasionally  doing  strange 
things,  of  which  many  instances  are  given.  Acting  on 
some  impulse,  he  had  a  mock  funeral.  Some  one  was 
procured  to  officiate  as  clergyman,  cards  were  sent  out 
to  invite  the  mourners,  and  Dexter  watched  the  people 


110  BIOGRAPHICAL  AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

to  see  how  they  were  affected.  He  was  satisfied  with 
all  except  that  his  wife  did  not  shed  so  many  tears  as 
he  thought  were  becoming,  for  which,  as  the  story  is,  he 
caned  her  severely  after  the  ceremony.  Persons  would 
go  to  his  house  professing  to  be  lords,  and  saying  they 
were  desirous  of  paying  their  respects  to  one  whose  fame 
had  become  so  world-wide,  whom  he  would  receive  with 
consideration,  and  offer  them  the  best  he  had  to  eat  and 
drink.  Mr.  Ladd,  the  well-known  peace  advocate,  of 
Portsmouth,  used  to  describe  such  a  visit.  One  of  the 
party  told  Dexter  that  this  gentleman  was  one  of  the  first 
lords  of  England,  and  Dexter  wished  to  know  what  the 
king  had  said  about  him  lately.  A  gentleman  told  me 
recently  he  had  often  heard  his  father  speak  of  a  visit 
made  to  Dexter  with  other  young  men,  who  asked  for 
the  honor  of  crowning  him.  He  consented,  and  they 
placed  him  on  a  table  full  of  liquor,  and  all  had  a  ca 
rousal.  Only  a  few  days  ago  a  gentleman  said  to  me 
that  one  of  his  ancestors,  a  clergyman,  called  on  him, 
and  after  some  conversation  wished  to  offer  a  prayer,  for 
which  permission  was  given.  At  the  close,  Dexter 
turned  to  his  son  and  said,  "That  was  ad  —  d  good 
prayer,  wasn't  it,  Sam  ? " 

Wishing  to  extend  his  fame,  he  bought  a  country  seat 
in  Chester,  N.H.,  on  which  he  spent  considerable  money 
in  ways  to  make  a  show,  and  called  himself  "  Lord  of 
Chester."  He  often  visited  Hampton  Beach,  then  as 
now  a  favorite  resort,  and  was  delighted  with  the  sensa 
tion  he  made.  At  one  time  he  was  sent  to  the  county 
jail  at  Ipswich,  for  attempting  to  shoot  a  man  in  a 
drunken  frolic,  and  rode  thither  in  his  coach,  boasting 
that  no  one  else  had  ever  been  carried  there  in  that  style. 


TIMOTHY  DEXTER  111 

He  was  accustomed  to  walk  through  the  streets  wearing 
a  cocked  hat  and  long  coat,  and  carrying  a  cane,  fol 
lowed  by  a  peculiar-looking  black  dog  with  no  hair; 
and  boys  knowing  his  vanity  would  follow  him  and 
salute  him  as  "  Lord  Timothy  Dexter,"  whom  he  would 
reward  by  money,  a  scene  which  a  few  now  living  can 
remember. 

Newburyport  at  that  time  was  a  large  market  town, 
and  countrymen  came  from  far  with  their  market  wagons 
to  buy  and  sell,  and  they  all  carried  home  wonderful 
stories  about  Dexter,  his  great  wealth,  his  house  deco 
rated  with  images,  and  his  many  strange  acts.  With  but 
few  newspapers,  and  so  much  less  than  now  to  discuss, 
it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  his  eccentricities  should 
have  been  so  much  talked  about,  and  that  people  came 
from  a  great  distance  simply  to  see  him  and  his  images. 

Persuaded  of  his  own  greatness,  and  that  he  was 
equal  to  any  undertaking,  like  other  eminent  men,  he 
thought  he  must  become  an  author,  and  so  he  wrote  a 
book  called  "  Pickle  for  the  Knowing  Ones."  It  was  a 
small  volume,  with  some  sense  and  much  nonsense 
jumbled  together.  There  were  no  punctuation  marks, 
and  as  this  was  commented  upon,  in  the  second  edition 
he  placed  at  the  end  a  page  of  different  punctuation 
marks  with  this  note : 

"  Mister  printer  the  Nowing  ones  complane  of  my 
book  the  first  edition  had  no  stops  I  put  in  A  Nuf  here 
and  thay  may  peper  and  solt  it  as  they  plese." 

He  had  thousands  of  copies  printed,  and  gave  them 
away,  and  this,  perhaps,  more  than  any  other  one  thing, 
increased  his  notoriety.  Even  now  there  is  a  demand 
for  this  little  work,  and  though  it  has  been  reprinted 


112  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER   ARTICLES 

several  times,  a  short  time  ago  its  market  price  was  a 
dollar  for  what  had  cost  but  a  few  cents.  He  expresses 
his  views  on  many  topics,  and  some  of  his  remarks  indi 
cate  shrewdness.  He  condemns  the  folly  of  Newbury- 
port  in  being  set  off  from  Newbury  with  an  area  of  only 
six  hundred  acres,  and  within  a  few  years  it  has  been 
reannexed  to  a  large  part  of  Newbury,  from  Dexter's 
advice,  or  for  some  other  reason.  In  speaking  of  the 
ministers  he  says  :  "  I  suppose  they  are  all  good  men, 
but  I  want  to  Know  why  they  do  not  agree  better. 
They  are  always  at  swords'  points,  and  will  not  enter 
each  other's  houses,  nor  hardly  nod  to  each  other  in  the 
street."  This  remark  certainly  would  not  indicate  a 
want  of  sense. 

Having  heard  that  the  kings  of  England  had  a  poet 
laureate  to  sing  their  praises,  Dexter  thought  he  also 
should  have  one,  and  he  found  him  in  the  person  of 
Jonathan  Plummer,  a  young  man  who  had  been  a  peddler 
of  fish,  then  of  sermons,  songs,  and  sheets  on  which 
were  printed  horrible  events,  and  who  in  the  end  turned 
poet  and  sold  his  own  verses.  Dexter  took  him  into  his 
service,  gave  him  a  suit  of  black  livery  ornamented  with 
stars,  and  crowned  him  with  parsley,  and,  thus  equipped, 
the  bard  travelled  around  selling  verses  in  praise  of  his 
patron.  A  few  stanzas  from  a  long  poem  will  illustrate 
the  character  of  his  productions : 

"  Lord  Dexter  is  a  man  of  fame; 
Most  celebrated  is  his  name ; 
More  precious  far  than  gold  that's  pure, 
Lord  Dexter  shines  forever  more. 

"  His  noble  house,  it  shines  more  bright 
Than  Lebanon's  most  pleasing  height ; 


TIMOTHY   DEXTER  113 

Never  was  one  who  stepped  therein 
Who  wanted  to  come  out  again. 

"  Lord  Dexter,  thou,  whose  name  alone 
Shines  brighter  than  King  George's  throne ; 
Thy  name  shall  stand  in  books  of  fame, 
And  princes  shall  thy  name  proclaim. 

44  Lord  Dexter  like  King  Solomon 
Hath  gold  and  silver  by  the  ton, 
And  bells  to  churches  he  hath  given  — 
To  worship  the  great  King  of  heaven. 

"  In  heaven  may  he  always  reign, 
For  there's  no  sorrow,  sin,  nor  pain ; 
Unto  the  world  I  leave  the  rest 
For  to  pronounce  Lord  Dexter  blest." 

Dexter  was  superstitious,  had  a  collection  of  dream 
books,  and  was  much  governed  by  the  advice  of  others. 
He  used  often  to  consult  a  fortune-teller,  Madam 
Hooper,  and  after  her  decease,  Moll  Pitcher,  a  fortune 
teller  celebrated  in  the  whole  region  around  Lynn,  her 
home,  both  of  whom  knew  how  to  make  money  out  of 
him.  The  one  who  had  the  most  influence  over  him, 
however,  was  Lucy  Lancaster,  a  colored  woman,  whose 
father  was  said  to  have  been  the  son  of  an  African  prince. 
She  was  shrewd,  well-informed,  well-disposed,  and  used 
her  power  over  him  to  restrain  his  excesses.  She  gave 
him  more  credit  for  intellect  than  did  most  others, 
saying  that  he  was  honest,  and  that  his  follies  sprang  in 
a  great  degree  from  his  uneasy  nature  and  want  of 
regular  employment. 

But  the  great  notoriety  of  Dexter,  as  has  been  stated, 
is  as  a  man  who  with  poor  judgment  gained  his  wealth 
by  luck.  Did  he  so  gain  it? 


114  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

There  is  no  doubt  that  his  first  wealth  was  gained  by 
the  exercise  of  his  trade,  in  competition  with  skilled 
workmen,  and  without  ordinary  business  capacity  it  is 
hard  to  understand  how  he  could  have  succeeded.  He 
added  to  his  wealth  by  marriage,  and  as  this  union  is 
the  result  of  luck,  or  calculation,  or  love,  which  decided 
it  in  his  case  is  unknown.  He  certainly  made  a  large 
sum  by  his  speculation  in  continental  money,  as  did  all 
who  bought  it.  In  the  case  of  Hancock  and  Russell, 
this  would  be  called  shrewd  foresight ;  in  Dexter  it  was 
regarded  as  his  luck.  After  he  gave  up  his  trade  he 
seems  to  have  speculated  in  many  ways,  generally  or 
always,  as  is  supposed,  taking  hints  from  others,  as  all 
speculators  do ;  but  it  is  hardly  credible,  from  his  early 
history  and  constant  success,  that  he  did  not  reason 
about  his  ventures.  Kiiapp  says :  "  Many  who  attempted 
to  take  advantage  of  him  got  sadly  deceived.  He  had 
no  small  share  of  cunning,  when  all  else  seemed  to  have 
departed  from  him.  He  by  direct  or  indirect  means 
obtained  correct  opinions  upon  the  value  of  goods  and 
lands,  and  seldom  made  an  injudicious  speculation."  He 
was  in  the  habit  of  finding  out  what  articles  were  scarce, 
thus  making  what  would  now  be  called  in  Wall  Street 
parlance  a  "  corner."  The  shrewdest  Wall  Street  opera 
tors  fail  —  Dexter  seems  never  to  have  made  a  mistake. 
He  would  transact  no  business  when  intoxicated,  and 
made  his  appointments  for  the  forenoon,  saying  he  was 
always  drunk  in  the  afternoon.  In  buying  he  gave  the 
most  foolish  reasons  to  blind  the  seller,  who  thought  he 
was  deceived  when  deceiving.  He  bought  up  such 
articles  as  opium,  of  which  it  was  easy  at  that  period  of 
limited  supply  to  secure  most  in  the  market.  Knapp 


TIMOTHY   DEXTER  115 

says  :  "  It  often  happened  that  shrewd  merchants  were 
suspicious  of  selling  him  an  article,  apprehensive  that  it 
was  almost  a  sure  sign  that  it  was  going  to  rise, 
although  they  could  see  no  reason  for  it." 

Dexter's  ostentation  in  so  many  foolish  ways  natu 
rally  caused  a  high  estimate  of  his  wealth,  and  much 
curiosity  how  a  man  of  his  capacity  could  have  gained 
it.  He  seems  to  have  been  often  questioned  about  it, 
and  in  the  "  Pickle  for  the  Knowing  Ones  "  gives  his 
answer,  which  is  quoted  in  full  as  a  good  illustration  of 
the  style  of  the  book. 

44  How  Did  Dexter  Make  his  Money  ye  says  bying 
whale  bone  for  staing  for  ships  in  grosing  three  hundred 
&  40  tons  bort  all  in  boston  salum  and  all  in  Noue  york 
under  Cover  oppenly  told  them  for  my  ships  they  all 
laffed  so  I  had  at  my  own  pris  I  had  four  Counning  men 
for  Rounners  thay  found  the  home  as  I  told  them  to  act 
the  fool  I  was  full  of  Cash  I  had  nine  tun  of  silver  on 
hand  at  that  time  all  that  time  the  Creators  more  or  less 
laffing  it  spread  very  fast  here  is  the  Rub  in  fifty  days 
they  smelt  a  Rat  found  where  it  was  gone  to  Nouebry 
Port  spekkelaters  swarmed  like  hell  houns  to  be  short 
with  it  I  made  seventey  five  per  sent  one  tun  and  halfe 
of  silver  on  hand  and  over  one  more  spect  Drole  a  Nuf  I 
Dreamed  of  warming  pans  three  nites  that  they  would 
doue  in  the  west  inges  I  got  no  more  than  fortey  two 
thousand  put  them  in  nine  vessels  for  difrent  ports  that 
tuck  good  hold  I  cleared  sevinty  nine  per  sent  the  pans 
thay  made  yous  of  them  for  Coucking  very  good  masser 
for  Couckey  blessed  good  in  Deade  missey  got  nice 
handel  Now  burn  my  fase  the  last  thing  I  Ever  see  in 
borne  days  I  found  I  was  very  luckky  in  spekkelation  I 


116  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

dreamed  that  the  good  book  was  Run  Down  in  this 
Countrey  nine  years  gone  so  low  as  halfe  prise  and  Dull 
at  that  the  bibel  I  means  I  had  the  Ready  Cash  by  holl 
sale  I  bort  twelve  per  sent  under  halfe  pris  they  Cost 
fortey  one  sents  Each  bibbel  twentey  one  thousand  I  put 
them  into  twenty  one  vessels  for  the  west  inges  and  sent 
a  text  that  all  of  them  must  have  one  bibel  in  every 
family  or  if  not  thay  would  goue  to  hell  and  if  thay  had 
Dun  wiked  flie  to  the  bibel  and  on  thare  Neas  and  kiss 
the  bibel  three  times  and  look  up  to  heaven  aunest  for 
forgivness  my  Capttains  all  had  Compleat  orders  here 
Comes  the  good  luck  I  made  one  hundred  per  sent  & 
littel  over  then  I  found  I  had  made  money  enuf  I 
hant  spekalated  sence  old  time  by  government  securities 
I  made  or  cleared  forty  seven  thousands  Dolors  that  is 
the  old  afare  Now  I  toald  the  all  the  sekrett  Now  be  still 
let  me  A  lone  Dont  wonder  Noe  more  houe  I  made  my 
money  boas." 

It  would  be  difficult  to  condense  into  the  same  space 
more  improbable  statements  than  are  found  in  this  ex 
planation  of  how  Dexter  made  his  money,  as  a  little  ex 
amination  will  show. 

The  first  speculation  named  is  that  of  whalebone.  The 
year  is  not  stated,  so  that  it  is  not  possible  to  give  the 
amount  in  the  country  and  the  price  at  that  date,  which 
have  greatly  varied  at  different  periods.  The  amount 
in  the  country  in  1830  was  120,000  Ibs. ;  the  maximum 
quantity  was  5,652,300  Ibs.  in  1853.  The  price  is  now 
$2  a  pound ;  within  three  years  it  has  been  $3  a  pound ; 
and  I  have  heard  of  sales  as  low  as  eight  cents,  the  price 
of  course  varying  with  the  demand  and  supply.  Three 
hundred  and  forty-two  tons  would  be  in  the  old  reckon- 


TIMOTHY   DEXTER  117 

ing  761,600  Ibs.,  costing  at  the  highest  price  given  over 
two  millions  of  dollars,  and  at  the  lowest  over  60,000 
dollars.  It  is  not  probable  that  this  quantity  was  in  the 
country  nearly  a  century  ago,  nor  that  it  could  have 
found  a  market,  as  the  demand  for  it  has  always  been 
limited.  Dexter  never  could  have  bought  this  quantity 
except  at  the  lowest  price,  and  even  that  is  doubtful,  as 
will  be  shown  later.  The  tradition  is  that  as  soon  as  he 
had  purchased  it  the  fashion  for  broad  skirts  was  intro 
duced,  and  it  was  all  in  demand.  How  far  a  ton  of 
whalebone  would  go  in  satisfying  the  expansive  desires 
of  the  ladies  of  that  time,  the  writer  has  no  data  for  a 
calculation.  Most  of  them,  however,  were  practical, 
hard-working,  and  economical,  from  necessity ;  merely 
fashionable  ladies  were  rare,  and  visits  to  Newport  and 
Saratoga  unknown.  As  to  the  foolish  reason  for  the 
purchase,  it  was  characteristic  in  him  to  give  it  if  he 
wished  to  buy. 

He  says  he  had  nine  tons  of  silver  on  hand,  which 
would  be  worth  in  round  numbers  $300,000,  a  sum 
which  he  never  could  have  commanded,  as  will  be  shown 
farther  on.  It  was  just  after  the  commencement  of  our 
government,  when  hard  money  was  scarce,  and  most  of 
it  foreign,  as  we  had  coined  but  little  before  the  day  of 
safety  vaults,  and  banks  were  few.  If  one  had  had  such 
a  large  amount  of  coin,  where  could  he  safely  have  de 
posited  it?  Who  ever  dared  to  keep  such  an  amount  in 
a  private  house  ? 

His  next  most  noted  speculation  was  in  sending 
42,000  warming  pans  to  the  West  Indies.  No  hard 
ware  was  made  in  this  country  until  a  little  more  than 
half  a  century  ago,  and  all  the  warming-pans  in  use 


118  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER   ARTICLES 

came  from  Great  Britain.  The  amount  named  would 
have  cost  about  $150,000,  to  be  paid  for  in  hard  money, 
as  bills  of  exchange  were  then  but  little  used.  Such  an 
importation  and  exportation  would  have  required  months 
of  time,  and  would  have  made  a  sensation  indeed,  for, 
though  common,  a  large  part  of  the  families  had  none, 
and  they  are  now  rare  as  old  curiosities.  Is  it  possible, 
rating  his  intelligence  very  low,  that,  if  he  had  attempted 
such  a  speculation,  he  would  not  have  been  persuaded 
of  its  folly  long  before  he  could  have  executed  it  ?  Ex 
cept  for  the  purpose  for  which  they  were  made,  they  are 
of  no  value.  Dexter  says  they  were  sold  in  the  West 
Indies  as  cooking  utensils,  but  a  glance  shows  how  in 
convenient  they  would  be  for  such  use.  The  tradition 
is  that  they  were  sold  to  dip  and  strain  molasses,  but  they 
are  poorly  adapted  to  this,  and  nearly  a  century  ago,  when 
sugar  plantations  were  few  in  the  West  Indies,  but  a 
small  part  of  42,000  would  have  satisfied  any  such  de 
mand.  Did  any  visitor  to  the  West  Indies  ever  see  or 
hear  of  one  of  these  42,000  warming-pans  ? 

Of  all  his  speculations  the  Bible  venture  seems  most 
improbable.  If  there  was  an  over-supply,  they  would 
be  English  Bibles,  sent  to  a  Roman  Catholic  country, 
where  Bibles  are  but  little  circulated,  to  a  Spanish  speak 
ing  people  that  could  not  read  them,  and  of  course  could 
not  be  made  to  understand  their  terrible  destiny  if  they 
did  not  buy  one. 

There  is  another  speculation  often  spoken  of,  and  men 
tioned  by  Mrs.  Smith  in  her  "  History  of  Newburyport," 
but  which  Dexter  does  not  give  in  his  "  Pickle  for  the 
Knowing  Ones," —  a  consignment  of  mittens  to  the  West 
Indies,  which  were  bought  at  a  large  advance  by  a  vessel 


TIMOTHY   DEXTER  119 

bound  for  the  Baltic.  It  is  enough  to  say  of  this  that 
wool  and  labor  have  always  been  cheaper  in  the  North 
of  Europe  than  here,  and  there  has  never  been  a  time 
since  1492  when  mittens  could  have  been  shipped  there 
from  America  at  a  profit.  The  sale  of  this  article  is 
limited  everywhere,  as  the  supply  from  lady  friends  usu 
ally  equals  every  demand.  If  one  consignment  of  mit 
tens,  or  of  any  other  article  in  which  Dexter  was  so 
fortunate,  could  yield  such  a  return,  why  did  not  some 
other  Yankee,  taking  the  hint,  repeat  the  venture  ? 

All  these  professed  importations  and  exportations 
would  naturally  have  been  made  at  Newburyport,  where 
Dexter  lived,  and  which  had  a  large  trade  with  the  West 
Indies  ;  yet  the  collector  of  customs  of  that  place  has 
told  me  that  the  books  of  the  custom  house  contain  no 
evidence  of  any  such  transactions.  Every  old  person  in 
Newburyport  with  whom  I  have  conversed  has  accepted 
all  these  stories,  yet  could  give  no  foundation  for  them 
except  the  common  belief.  If  Dexter  dealt  in  warming- 
pans  and  the  other  articles  named  at  all,  it  was  probably 
in  small  quantities,  as  he  would  have  dealt  in  other  arti 
cles  in  common  demand,  to  make  a  little  "  corner,"  and, 
to  conceal  his  object,  he  would  give  the  most  foolish 
reason.  The  only  direct  evidence  I  can  find  is  Dexter's 
own  word,  and  he  professes  to  tell  a  "  secret,"  when  such 
large  and  unusual  speculations  could  not  have  taken 
place  without  general  knowledge  and  discussion.  Knapp 
says  :  "  Tricks  without  malice  made  up  the  great  amuse 
ment  of  his  latter  days.  He  devised  it  in  the  morning 
and  cherished  it  at  night,  and  no  doubt  it  filled  his 
dreams."  The  only  satisfactory  explanation,  then,  of 
these  stories  which  Dexter  tells  to  those  inquiring  minds 


120  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER   ARTICLES 

so  anxious  to  learn  the  secret  how  he  made  his  money, 
is  that  they  were  the  creation  of  his  own  brain,  a  great 
joke  worthy  of  Mark  Twain,  successfully  imposed  on  the 
community,  —  that  instead  of  being  the  fool  he  is  com 
monly  regarded,  he  fooled  others. 

The  inventory  of  Dexter's  estate,  taken  from  the  Pro 
bate  Office,  is  as  follows  : 

Real  Estate  ....  112,000  00 
Personal  Estate  .  .  .  15,500  00 
Goods 7,527  39 


$35,027  39 

This  small  estate  shows  how  largely  Dexter's  wealth 
was  overestimated,  and  how  improbable  are  the  state 
ments  of  transactions  calling  for  such  large  sums  as  have 
been  named.  He  was  sharp  in  all  his  business  affairs, 
and  spent  but  little  except  to  gratify  his  vanity  and  his 
passion  for  drink.  A  little  money  in  those  days  of  small 
means  and  great  economy  made  much  show,  and  it  is 
doubtful  if  he  ever  could  have  been  worth  as  much  as 
$75,000.  There  is  no  reason  to  believe  he  ever  had  any 
serious  losses ;  this  would  be  contrary  to  the  tradition 
that  he  was  always  a  lucky  fool.  All  the  business  opera 
tions  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge  seem  to  have  been 
marked  by  good  sense.  He  was  interested  in  public 
affairs,  and  gave  judiciously,  but  not  largely,  to  objects 
of  charity.  He  took  one  hundred  shares  and  was  the 
largest  stockholder  in  the  new  bridge  over  the  Merri- 
mack,  at  Deer  Island,  now  the  attractive  home  of  Rich 
ard  S.  and  Harriet  Prescott  Spofford,  and  at  its  opening, 
July  4,  1793,  delivered  an  oration  which  one  of  the 


'TIMOTHY  DEXTER  121 

newspapers  of  that  day,  thrusting  greatness  on  Timothy 
Dexter  as  they  have  done  on  many  a  Dexter  since,  pro 
nounced  "  for  elegance  of  style,  propriety  of  speech,  and 
force  of  argument,  truly  Ciceronian."  And  it  may  be 
stated  that  these  shares  are  all  the  stocks  named  in  his 
will,  or  in  the  inventory  of  his  estate.  It  has  been  said 
that  his  motive  for  putting  up  the  images  was  to  make 
the  new  bridge  a  paying  investment  by  drawing  travel 
over  it  and  past  his  house,  and  he  wrote  some  newspaper 
articles  against  other  proposed  bridges.  He  gave  a  bell 
to  one  of  the  churches,  and  sums  to  the  other  churches 
to  be  used  in  benevolence.  A  gift  was  made  to  St. 
Paul's  Church  on  condition  that  a  tablet  should  perpet 
uate  it,  and  there  it  hangs  to-day  with  gilt  letters,  a 
monument  of  his  vanity  and  of  his  shrewdness  in  so  ingen 
iously  perpetuating  his  name.  He  offered  to  pave  High 
Street  if  it  should  be  called  by  his  name,  and  to  build  a 
market  house  for  the  use  of  the  town  with  a  similar  con 
dition.  Both  objects  were  much  needed,  and  he  showed 
far  better  judgment  in  the  offer  than  did  the  town  in  its 
rejection. 

His  family,  mainly  his  own  fault,  was  not  a  happy 
one.  His  only  son  was  allowed  to  spend  money  as  he 
pleased,  was  sent  to  Europe,  and  had  every  opportunity 
for  improvement ;  but,  as  might  be  expected,  he  became 
dissipated,  a  prodigal,  and  died  a  drunkard  one  year  after 
his  father.  His  only  daughter,  with  some  beauty  but  a 
feeble  intellect,  was  sought  on  account  of  her  reputed 
wealth,  and  married  a  judge,  who  soon  became  tired  of 
her,  and  obtained  a  divorce,  with  or  without  reason,  and 
sent  her  home  an  imbecile,  with  confirmed  habits  of  in 
toxication.  A  child  of  this  daughter  married  respecta- 


122 


BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER    ARTICLES 


bly,  but  died  early,  and  with  the  death  of  the  daughter, 
about  1850,  the  family  became  extinct. 

A  lady  in  Newburyport  has  a  portrait  of  Dexter, 
taken  by  an  artist  in  New  Haven,  where  his  daughter 
had  married.  He  is  represented  dressed  as  a  gentleman 
of  that  day,  wearing  a  wig,  a  ruffled  bosom,  and  ruffled 
wristbands,  and  his  face  certainly  indicates  no  lack  of 
intelligence. 

He  died  Oct.  26,  180(3,  his  death  caused  or  hastened 
by  intemperate  habits.  His  will  was  judicious.  He 
provided  carefully  for  his  family  and  others  having 
natural  claims  on  him,  and  made  some  sensible  bequests, 
among  them  $2,000  to  Newburyport,  the  income  to  be 
expended  for  the  poor,  and  $2,000  for  the  support  of  the 
gospel,  and  $300  for  a  bell  to  his  native  town,  Maiden. 
He  requested  to  be  buried  in  the  tomb  he  had  con 
structed  in  his  garden,  but  the  board  of  health  inter 
fered,  and  he  rests  with  his  follies  in  the  cemetery  close 
to  the  beautiful  mall.  On  the  plain  stone  over  his  grave 
is  the  following  inscription  : 


IN    MEMORY  OF  TIMOTHY   DEXTER 
WHO    DIED    OCT.    26,    1806, 
/ETATIS  60. 

HE   GAVE   LIBERAL   DONATIONS 

FOR  THE   SUPPORT   OF  THE   GOSPEL; 

FOR   THE   BENEFIT   OF  THE   POOR, 

AND    FOR    OTHER    BENEVOLENT   PURPOSES. 


Near  his  grave  are  those  of  his  wife,  who  died  July  3, 


TIMOTHY   DEXTER.  123 

1809,  aged  72,  and  of  his  son,  who  died  July  20,  1807, 
aged  36. 

The  images  remained  as  at  Dexter's  decease  until  the 
great  gale  in  1815  blew  down  most  of  them,  which  were 
sold  by  auction  for  a  small  sum.  The  three  presidents 
on  the  arch,  however,  occupied  their  place  till  about 
1850,  attracting  much  attention,  and  keeping  alive  the 
old  curiosity  about  the  former  eccentric  owner. 

The  house  was  used  as  a  hotel  and  the  home  of  the 
daughter  till  her  death,  and  with  the  grounds  was 
neglected.  It  was  then  bought  by  a  gentleman  of  good 
taste,  the  late  Dr.  E.  G.  Kelley,  who  greatly  improved 
the  buildings  and  grounds,  and  sold  it  to  the  Hon. 
George  H.  Corliss,  who  made  it  one  of  the  most  attractive 
homes  of  the  city.  The  eagle  on  the  top  remains,  the 
last  of  Dexter's  images. 

The  heirs  of  Mr.  Corliss  sold  the  property  to  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Alexander  B.  Johnson,  the  last  owners  up  to  1900, 
who  were  both  lost  in  the  sad  burning  of  the  Windsor 
Hotel  at  New  York. 


KNAPP'S   LIFE   OF  TIMOTHY   DEXTER 


THE  life  of  Timothy  Dexter,  now  a  very  rare  book, 
was  written  by  Samuel  L.  Knapp,  a  graduate  of  Dart 
mouth  College,  class  of  1804,  a  lawyer  and  one  of  the 
best-known  literary  men  of  his  time.  Knapp  settled  in 
Newburyport  as  a  lawyer  in  1808,  only  two  years  after 
Dexter  died  and  when  his  notoriety  was  at  its  height,  and 
was  in  a  position  to  learn  all  that  could  be  known  about 
him.  He  had  seen  Dexter,  and  in  the  preface  states  : 
"  All  the  dramatis  persons  were  well  known  to  me,  and 
were  the  subjects  of  my  particular  study,"  and  that  he 
wrote  his  book  from  "memoranda  made  many  years 
ago/'  His  account  of  Dexter  is  that  he  was  appren 
ticed  as  a  leather-dresser  in  Charlestown ;  that  he  com 
menced  business  for  himself  in  that  town  at  twenty-one  ; 
that  he  soon  after  married  a  widow  Frothingham,  who 
had  some  property  and  aided  him  by  keeping  a  huck 
ster's  shop  ;  that  by  industry  and  fortunate  speculations 
in  continental  money,  state  securities,  etc.,  etc.,  taking 
hints  from  Governor  Hancock  and  Thomas  Russell,  the 
most  eminent  merchant  of  that  day,  he  became  rich  ; 
that,  failing  to  receive  the  social  standing  of  these  men 
to  which  he  thought  himself  entitled,  he  sought  a  new 
home  where  he  would  be  better  appreciated,  and  came 
to  Newburyport,  "  bought  two  palaces,"  one  of  which 

124 


KNAPP'S   LIFE   OF   TIMOTHY   DEXTER  125 

(now  the  public  library  building)  he  occupied  for  a 
short  time,  and  then  moved  to  the  other,  which  he  elabo 
rately  decorated  with  images,  etc.,  etc.  Knapp  narrates, 
also,  all  the  well-known  speculations  by  which  Dexter, 
in  his  "  Pickle  for  the  Knowing  Ones,"  explains  how  he 
made  his  money,  as  of  undoubted  accuracy,  and  his 
statements  have  always  been  so  received,  even  in 
Newburyport. 

In  the  article  on  Dexter  in  the  October  number  of  the 
"  Register,"  1886,  the  writer  gave  reasons  why  the  oft- 
repeated  speculations  could  only  be  regarded  as  Dexter's 
lies,  or  jokes,  but  the  main  events  of  his  life  were  as 
sumed  to  be  as  Knapp  gave  them.  An  examination, 
however,  shows  that  even  here  the  Life  is  full  of  errors. 

Mr.  O.  P.  Dexter,  of  New  York  City,  has  traced  out 
very  carefully  the  genealogy  of  the  Dexter  family,  and 
I  am  indebted  to  him  for  calling  my  attention  to  the 
many  errors  in  "  Knapp's  Life."  In  a  communication,  he 
says :  "  Timothy  Dexter,  son  of  Nathan  and  Esther 
(Brintnall)  Dexter,  was  born  at  Maiden,  Mass.,  Jan.  22, 
1746-7.  I  have  never  seen  any  proof  that  he  lived  in 
Charlestown.  If  any  one  will  examine  the  land  records 
of  Exeter,  N.H.,  he  will  find  that  Stephen  Noyes  of 
Hampstead  mortgaged  land  at  Chester  to  Jonathan  Mul- 
liken  and  Timothy  Dexter, 4  leather  dresser,  of  Newbury 
port,'  March  16,  1T70.  He  married,  May,  1770,  later 
than  the  mortgage  above  given,  Elizabeth,  widow  of 
Benjamin  Frothingham,  and  daughter  of  Deacon  John 
and  Abigail  (Gilman)  Lord,  of  Exeter,  N.H.  Mr.  Ben 
jamin  Frothingham  seems  to  have  died  at  Newburyport, 
so  the  marriage  of  Timothy  Dexter  probably  took  place 
at  Newburyport,  Newbury,  or  Exeter.  The  land  records 


126  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

of  Exeter  mention  Timothy  Dexter  as  of  Newburyport 
in  1779,  1780,  1784,  1786,  1787,  1790,  1795."  These 
dates,  it  will  be  seen,  cover  nearly  all  the  business  life  of 
Dexter. 

I  have  had  the  land  records  of  Salem  examined,  and 
they  show  that,  Jan.  2,  1770,  a  deed  was  given  by  Will 
iam  Wyer,  mariner,  to  "  Timothy  Dexter  of  Newbury 
port,  leather  dresser,  for  59  pounds  8  shillings,"  and  at 
different  later  dates  are  many  conveyances,  in  which 
Dexter  is  styled  "  leather  dresser,"  then  "  trader,"  "  mer 
chant,"  and  "  gentleman,"  —  rising  in  dignity  with  in 
crease  of  wealth,  though  the  last  designation  seems  a 
strange  misnomer. 

I  have  in  my  possession  an  indenture  dated  Feb.  9, 
1785,  by  which  "  Timothy  Dexter  of  Newburport,  leather 
dresser,"  covenants  to  sell  his  interest  in  "  four  undivided 
fifth  parts  of  a  certain  dwelling  house,  barn,  and  of  the 
land  under,  adjoining  and  belonging  thereto,  and  also 
all  the  said  Timothy's  right,  title  and  interest  in  and  to 
certain  three  acres  of  land,  all  the  premises  being  situate 
in  Exeter,  in  the  County  of  Rockingham  and  State  of 
New  Hampshire,  and  being  the  whole  estate  that  was 
taken  by  an  execution  issued  on  a  judgment  recovered 
by  said  Timothy  against  Daniel  Gilman  of  the  same  Exe 
ter  leather  dresser  ...  on  payment  of  the  sum  of 
two  hundred  and  thirty-three  pounds  lawful  money  of 
the  State  of  Massachusetts,  &c." 

This  indenture  was  signed  by  the  two  parties  to  it, 
Timothy  Dexter  and  Samuel  Sawyer,  and  also  by  the 
celebrated  Theophilus  Parsons  as  a  witness,  who  wrote 
the  paper. 

At  the  earliest  dates  above  given,  Dexter  was  only 


KNAPP'S  LIFE  OF  TIMOTHY  DEXTER  127 

twenty-three  years  of  age,  yet  he  had  been  in  business 
long  enough  to  invest  in  real  estate,  not  only  in  New- 
buryport  but  also  in  New  Hampshire.  There  can  be  no 
room  to  question,  then,  that  though  he  may  have  learned 
his  trade  in  Charlestown,  he  commenced  business  at 
Newburyport,  and  that  all  his  money  was  made  there. 
I  remember  a  few  years  ago  an  old  gentleman  told  me 
that  his  father  was  associated  with  Dexter,  and  related 
anecdotes  of  him  when  poor,  and  living  in  an  humble 
way  as  a  leather  dresser  in  one  of  the  poor  sections  of 
the  town,  which  I  could  not  reconcile  with  "  Knapp's 
Life." 

The  Dexter,  then,  of  "  Knapp's  Life  "  and  of  common 
belief,  the  fool  who  made  his  money  by  senseless  specu 
lations  that  always  turned  out  well,  is  a  fiction.  There 
is  not  the  least  evidence  in  support  of  his  stories  but  his 
own  word.  He  was  not  in  a  position  to  get  hints  from 
Governor  Hancock  and  Russell,  and  he  never  had  the 
wealth  to  engage  in  large  operations,  for  his  estate  at 
his  decease  was  valued  at  only  $35,000,  of  which  his 
real  estate  was  $12,000. 

The  real  Dexter,  with  all  his  folly,  acquired  his  prop 
erty  as  other  people  do  —  by  prudence,  industry,  and 
business  sagacity,  which  gave  him  a  fortune  for  that  pe 
riod.  Towards  the  close  of  his  life,  his  vanity,  igno 
rance,  and  drunken  habits  led  him  into  foolish  display 
and  eccentricities,  and  to  increase  the  wonder  he  told  the 
stories  that  have  given  him  such  wide  and  peculiar  noto 
riety,  and  which  have  been  so  strangely  credited.  As  a 
man  he  was  worthless,  and  only  deserves  the  space  de 
voted  to  him  as  an  example  of  erroneous  biography  and 
tradition,  of  which  so  much  still  remains  accepted. 


GEN.   NATHANIEL   PEABODY 

OF  ATKINSON,   N.H. 


NATHANIEL  PEABODY  was  born  at  Topsfield,  Mass., 
March  1,  1741.  He  was  the  son  of  Dr.  Jacob  Peabody, 
who  removed  to-  Leo  minster  in  1745,  and  died  there  in 
1758.  His  mother,  Susanna,  was  the  daughter  of  the 
Rev.  John  Rogers,  for  thirty  years  minister  of  Boxford, 
Mass.,  and  tenth  in  descent  from  John  Rogers,  the 
martyr  of  Smithfield. 

Young  Peabody  never  attended  school  a  day,  but  all 
his  education,  both  academical  and  medical,  was  received 
from  his  father,  who  must  have  been  a  man  of  large  ac 
quirements.  He  studied  and  practised  with  his  father 
till  he  was  eighteen  years  of  age,  when  his  father  died. 
At  the  age  of  twenty  he  went  to  Atkinson,  then  a  part 
of  Plaistow,  and  established  himself  as  a  physician. 
He  soon  gained  a  high  reputation  in  his  profession,  and 
many  young  men  came  to  him  for  instruction,  for  there 
were  no  professional  schools  at  that  period,  and  students 
became  pupils  with  some  one  of  reputation  in  the 
desired  profession.  March  1,  1763,  he  married  Abigail, 
daughter  of  Samuel  and  Sarah  (Follansbee)  Little,  born 
Sept.  15,  1745. 

He  soon  became  active  outside  of  his  profession,  and 
interested  in  all  town,  State,  and  national  affairs.  The 

128 


GEN.    NATHANIEL   PEABODY  129 

people  of  Atkinson  wished  to  form  a  separate  township, 
and  a  petition  was  presented  to  the  Legislature  "  May  ye 
20,  1766,"  that  the  westerly  part  of  Plaistow  be  set  off 
as  a  town.  The  name  of  Nathaniel  Peabody  was  first 
on  the  petition,  which  he  probably  wrote,  and  the  reason 
seems  strange  to  us  now,  who  live  in  such  degenerate 
days  as  the  official  head  of  the  State  portrays  for  New 
Hampshire.  The  petition  urges  that  the  request  may 
be  granted,  "  By  reason  of  the  many  and  great  difficul 
ties  they  undergo  in  attending  the  Public  Worship  of 
God  at  the  Meeting  House  where  it  now  stands,  through 
the  great  distance  of  their  dwellings  therefrom,  and 
that  tne  Meeting  House  is  not  large  enough  to  accom 
modate  more  than  one-half  of  the  inhabitants  of  said 
town." 

The  petition  was  granted,  for  such  a  weighty  reason 
could  not  be  disregarded  by  our  church-going  fore 
fathers,  and  the  town  was  incorporated  Aug.  28,  1767, 
and  named  for  Theodore  Atkinson,  a  prominent  man  of 
the  State,  and  a  large  landholder  in  the  town. 

Dr.  Peabody  early  formed  the  acquaintance  of  many 
of  the  leading  men  of  the  State,  and  April  30,  1771, 
was  commissioned  by  Gov.  John  Wentworth  as  Justice  of 
the  Peace  and  Quorum,  a  far  more  important  office  then 
than  now.  He  developed,  too,  a  taste  for  military  ser 
vice,  and  Oct.  27,  1774,  was  appointed  lieutenant-colonel 
of  the  7th  regiment.  He  was  a  candidate  for  the  Legis 
lature  in  1774,  and  his  friends  thought  he  would  have 
been  chosen  at  a  fair  election,  and  petitioned  in  vain  for 
another  trial. 

The  first  New  Hampshire  Provincial  Congress,  or 
Assembly,  met  at  Exeter,  July  21,  1774,  and  the  second 


130  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

Jan.  25,  1775.  Nathaniel  Peabody  was  a  member  of 
both. 

The  struggle  between  the  colonies  and  the  mother 
country  was  now  approaching,  and  Colonel  Peabody  did 
not  hesitate  as  to  his  duty.  He  is  said  to  have  been  the 
first  officer  in  the  State  to  resign  his  commission  in  the 
king's  service.  He  joined  John  Sullivan,  John  Lang- 
don,  Josiah  Bartlett,  and  others  in  December,  1774,  who 
made  the  attack  on  Fort  William  and  Mary,  cap 
tured  the  captain  and  five  men,  one  hundred  barrels  of 
powder,  fifteen  cannon,  all  the  small  arms  and  other 
stores,  and  carried  them  into  the  country.  This  was  the 
first  act  of  armed  hostilities  in  the  colonies,  and  if  there 
had  been  resistance  New  Hampshire  and  Portsmouth 
would  have  had  the  honor  of  shedding  the  first  blood  for 
American  Independence,  and  not  Massachusetts  and  Lex 
ington.  The  powder  thus  seized  did  good  service  at  Bun 
ker  Hill,  where  the  failure  of  ammunition  obliged  our 
soldiers  to  retreat.  Nor  was  it  alone  New  Hampshire 
powder  that  was  so  effective  at  Bunker  Hill.  My  friend 
Colonel  Gilmore,  of  Manchester,  has  shown  that  two- 
thirds  of  the  soldiers  in  that  engagement  were  from 
New  Hampshire.  New  Hampshire  men  are  so  modest 
as  not  to  have  dwelt  enough  on  the  seizure  of  Fort 
William  and  Mary,  and  their  part  in  the  Bunker  Hill 
engagement  and  the  credit  due  the  Granite  State. 

Soon  after  the  struggle  for  independence  began  the 
Continental  Congress  sent  out  a  request  —  "  That  all 
patriotic  citizens  should  pledge  themselves  to  risk  their 
lives  and  fortunes  against  British  aggression,"  and 
what  was  called  the  "  Association  Test  "  was  circulated 
by  order  of  the  Committee  of  Safety.  Every  citizen  of 


GEN.  NATHANIEL   PEABODY  131 


* 


Atkinson  over  twenty-one  years  of  age  at  once  signed 
the  pledge.  It  was  signed  by  Colonel  Peabody,  and  he 
was  one  of  the  selectmen  of  the  town  who  certified  to 
the  list  of  signers,  Sept.  25,  1776. 

In  November,  1776,  a  convention  of  some  forty  towns 
of  New  Hampshire  and  Massachusetts  was  held  at  the 
house  of  Joseph  Varnum,  of  Dracut,  Mass.,  to  see 
about  the  currency  and  the  high  price  of  the  necessities 
of  life.  Colonel  Peabody  was  a  delegate  from  Atkin 
son,  was  made  clerk  of  the  convention,  and  was  one  of 
the  most  active  members.  It  was  claimed  that  the 
"  honest  mechanic  and  laborer  were  much  distressed  by 
the  extortion  of  the  trader  and  farmer,  whereby  many 
good  and  valuable  men  are  discouraged  from  engaging 
in  the  service  of  the  States,  to  the  great  damage  of  the 
continental  army,  upon  which  under  God  the  future 
safety  and  well  being  of  these  States  very  much  depend." 
Two  committees  were  appointed  to  petition  the  States  of 
New  Hampshire  and  Massachusetts  to  act  in  the  matter. 
Colonel  Peabody  was  one  of  the  two  named  to  prepare 
the  reports,  and  he  wrote  the  one  addressed  to  the  Legis 
lature  of  Massachusetts  which  was  adopted  for  New 
Hampshire.  It  would  seem  veiy  strange  now  to  our 
granger  friends  to  hear  complaints  of  the  extortion  of 
the  farmer,  and  a  demand  that  his  products  must  be  sold 
at  a  price  fixed  by  law. 

The  condition  of  the  currency  at  this  time  was  very 
unsatisfactory,  and  for  years  following,  all  over  the 
country,  and  the  demand  was  urgent  for  an  issue  of 
paper  money.  A  few  years  after  the  Dracut  convention,  a 
petition  was  presented  to  the  New  Hampshire  Legislature, 
from  Atkinson,  —  without  a  doubt  written  by  Colonel 


132  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

Peabody,  —  in  which  the  subject  is  discussed  after  the 
manner  of  the  greenback  advocates  of  a  modern  date, 
and  fully  as  ably.  The  following  is  an  extract :  "  Silver 
and  gold  have  taken  wings,  and  flown  to  the  other  side 
of  the  Atlantic,  without  leaving  a  substitute,  or  even 
its  shadow ;  besides  which,  to  support  the  late  war  the 
private  debts  of  individuals  have  been  in  many  cases 
augmented  —  people  are  called  upon  to  pay  large  taxes 
in  gold  and  silver  which  are  not  to  be  had  —  neither  the 
United  States,  nor  this  State,  have  a  single  shilling  to 
call  money,  but  for  which  they  are  indebted  to  foreigners 
—  the  silver  and  gold  heretofore  in  circulation  in  this 
State  being  English,  French,  Spanish,  Portugal,  or  other 
foreign  coin.  .  .  .  Therefore  the  said  inhabitants 
beg  leave  to  suggest  as  their  opinion  and  request  the 
Hon.  Court  cause  to  be  issued  250,000  pounds,  lawful 
money,  to  be  emitted  in  paper  bills."  The  committee  of 
the  Legislature  made  a  report  which  was  not  satisfactory 
to  Atkinson,  which  voted  that  it  preferred  its  own  plan 
to  that  of  the  Legislature.  It  is  to  the  credit  of  New 
Hampshire  that  it  voted  against  any  plan  to  issue  paper 
money  in  payment  of  private  contracts,  though  money 
was  so  scarce  and  hard  to  obtain.  Mesheah  Weare 
wrote  to  Colonel  Peabody,  March  28,  1780  :  "  The  price 
of  a  cow  is  12  or  1300  dollars,  40  dollars  for  a  bushel  of 
corn,  80  dollars  for  rye,  100  pounds  for  broadcloth,  50  to 
100  dollars  for  linen,  and  is  still  daily  rising." 

Colonel  Peabody  was  elected  a  member  of  the  house 
returned  to  sit  at  Exeter,  Dec.  18,  1776.  December  20, 
he  was  appointed  one  of  a  committee  to  report  upon  a 
petition  from  the  Dracut  convention  concerning  the 
regulation  of  trade  and  the  price  of  the  "necessities  of 


GEN.  NATHANIEL   PEABODY  133 

life."  The  committee  brought  in  a  bill  to  fix  the  max 
imum  price,  and  a  fine  for  its  violation,  but  no  action 
seems  to  have  been  taken  on  it. 

Jan.  1,  1777,  he  was  appointed  on  a  committee  "to 
draw  up  and  bring  in  a  bill  for  the  trial  and  punishment 
of  persons  who  shall  by  any  misbehavior  in  word  or 
deed  be  adjudged  inimical  to  the  liberty  and  freedom  of 
the  states  of  America  (not  within  the  act  against  treason) 
and  directing  how  judgments  thereon  shall  be  executed. 

Jan.  6,  1777,  he  was  appointed  on  a  committee  to  re 
port  "  how  and  in  what  manner  the  officers  taken  in  prize 
vessels  shall  be  removed  from  Portsmouth  and  distributed 
in  different  parts  of  the  State." 

Jan.  10,  1777,  he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  Com 
mittee  of  Safety,  with  such  men  as  Mesheah  Weare  and 
Josiah  Bartlett.  This  committee  was  appointed  by  the 
General  Assembly  of  New  Hampshire,  March  9, 1775,  and 
was  the  real  executive  of  the  State  during  the  war,  with 
power  to  transact  all  business  during  the  recess  of  the 
Legislature,  and  was  one  of  the  most  important  positions 
of  the  State,  given  only  to  men  of  trust  and  influence. 
Its  first  president  was  Mesheah  Weare. 

July  18,  1777,  Colonel  Peabody  was  appointed  with 
Josiah  Bartlett  to  attend  a  convention  at  Springfield  to 
act  on  paper  money  with  delegates  from  other  States,  and 
in  the  same  month  was  made  Adjutant-General  of  the 
State. 

Aug.  23,  1777,  he  was  ordered  with  Josiah  Bartlett 
"to  repair  to  Bennington  to  look  after  the  sick  and 
wounded  in  General  Stark's  regiment,  and  to  consult 
with  General  Stark  on  future  operations,  and  give  an 
exact  account  of  the  late  action  with  British  troops." 


134  BIOGRAPHICAL  AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

Dec.  26,  1777,  he  was  chosen  by  ballot  to  go  to  New 
Haven  with  Jonathan  Blanchard,  to  meet  commissioners 
from  other  States  Jan.  15,  1778,  "  to  endeavor  a  reg 
ulation  of  trade  and  the  price  of  labor  agreeable  to  the 
5th  article  of  the  Continental  Congress  of  Nov.  22 
last."  To  show  the  importance  attached  to  this  conven 
tion,  men  like  Roger  Sherman  were  members. 

Colonel  Peabody  was  a  member  of  the  house  in  1778. 
In  August  of  that  year  a  brigade  was  sent  to  Rhode 
Island  to  operate  in  connection  with  the  French  fleet  in 
driving  the  enemy  from  that  State.  It  was  commanded 
by  Gen.  Wm.  Whipple,  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  and  Colonel  Peabody  was  adjutant- 
general  of  the  brigade.  His  name  is  also  given  as  one 
of  the  thirteen  volunteers  from  Atkinson,  agreeably  to 
a  requisition  of  the  Committee  of  Safety,  and  an  order 
was  given  on  the  Receiver  General  to  pay  him  .£130,  or 
X10  for  each  volunteer. 

Colonel  Peabody  was  chosen  to  the  Legislature  in  1779, 
but  March  25  was  elected  a  delegate  to  Congress,  and 
took  his  seat  June  22.  He  at  once  took  an  active  part 
in  legislation,  and  his  abilities  were  recognized.  He 
was  made  chairman  of  the  medical  committee,  for  which 
his  profession  so  well  qualified  him,  a  committee  of 
special  importance  at  that  period  of  the  war.  The  high 
price  of  provisions  and  the  depreciation  of  the  currency 
were  the  cause  of  general  complaint,  and  Colonel  Pea- 
body  and  John  Langdon  were  appointed  commissioners 
from  New  Hampshire,  Nov.  6,  1779,  to  meet  com 
missioners  from  other  States  at  Philadelphia  to  consult 
on  a  remedy,  several  conventions  having  already  been  held 
for  the  same  purpose  in  different  parts  of  the  country. 


GEN.  NATHANIEL  PEABODY  135 

The  winter  of  1779-80  was  the  darkest  time  of  the 
American  Revolution.  Bancroft  says  of  it:  "Every 
department  of  the  army  was  without  money  or  credit, 
and  had  been  unpaid  for  five  months  at  the  beginning 
of  1780.  For  a  long  time  the  troops  had  from  one-half 
to  one-eighth  rations  of  meat,  and  sometimes  had  none. 
The  credit  of  Congress  was  exhausted  —  there  was  no 
regularity  in  the  supplies.  Sometimes  the  army  was 
without  bread  for  five  or  six  days,  at  other  times  without 
meat  —  and  at  times  for  two  or  three  days  with  neither. 
Continental  money  was  30  to  1." 

Lafayette  wrote  to  his  wife :  "  No  European  army 
would  suffer  a  tenth  of  what  the  American  troops 
suffer." 

Washington  wrote  :  "  For  a  fortnight  past  both  officers 
and  men  have  been  almost  perishing  from  want.  They 
have  been  alternately  without  bread  or  meat  the  whole 
time,  with  a  scant  allowance  of  either,  and  frequently 
destitute  of  both."  It  was  reported  that  the  medical 
department  had  no  sugar,  coffee,  tea,  chocolate,  nor 
spirituous  liquors  of  any  kind. 

Impressed  with  the  gravity  of  the  situation,  Congress 
voted  to  send  a  committee  of  its  members  to  the  quarters 
of  the  army  at  Morristown,  to  consult  with  General 
Washington  and  other  officers,  and  plan  and  execute  any 
schemes  that  might  reduce  expenses,  provide  for  the  sus 
tenance  of  the  army,  and  generally  promote  its  efficiency. 
The  committee  was  elected  by  ballot,  April  13,  1780, 
and  choice  was  made  of  Philip  Schuyler  of  New  York, 
John  Mathews  of  South  Carolina,  and  Nathaniel  Peabody 
of  New  Hampshire.  To  have  been  elected  a  member  of 
so  important  a  committee  indicates  his  prominence  and 


136  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER  ARTICLES 

the  confidence  placed  in  him.  The  Peabody  papers,  con 
sisting  of  letters  to  and  from  Colonel  Peabody,  found  in 
an  old  junk  shop,  and  now  the  property  of  the  New 
Hampshire  Historical  Society,  give  much  information 
concerning  this  critical  period.  In  a  letter  to  Mesheah 
Weare  at  this  time,  he  spoke  of  his  fatigue  and  anxiety 
as  impairing  his  health,  but  hopes  that  prosperity  will  soon 
give  him  relaxation,  and  remedy  every  evil.  He  wrote  : 
"  I  sensibly  feel  for  ye  distress  of  ye  citizens,  and  of  them 
in  particular,  for  they  have  undertaken  a  great  and  cour 
ageous  work.  I  wish  them  to  be  strong  and  courageous, 
and  the  Lord  shall  prosper  them." 

In  a  letter  to  Congress  dated  May  28,  1780,  in  regard 
to  the  investigation  of  the  committee  chosen  to  visit  the 
army,  he  wrote  :  uln  the  letter  of  the  9th  instant  to  Con 
gress,  we  observed  that,  if  the  spirit  of  discontent  then 
prevailing  among  the  soldiers  should  fully  establish  itself, 
it  would  produce  the  most  serious  consequences.  The 
causes  which  contributed  to  the  first  rise  of  dissatisfac 
tion  continuing  have  increased  and  ripened  into  mutiny. 
Two  entire  regiments  of  Conn,  line  paraded  on  Tues 
day  evening,  with  their  arms,  accoutrements,  and  packs, 
intending  to  march  off,  and  return  home.  They  com 
plained  of  inability  any  longer  to  endure  the  torture 
of  famine  and  the  variety  of  distress  they  experienced. 
The  brave,  patriotic,  and  virtuous  band  of 
officers  have  given  up  their  rations  to  the  soldiery,  and 
submitted  literally  to  bread  and  water  as  their  only  sus 
tenance." 

In  a  letter  to  Col.  Josiah  Bartlett,  dated  at  Morris- 
town  Aug.  6,  1780,  he  wrote  :  "  The  whole  dependence  of 
our  army  for  success  has  not  been  for  a  long  time  the 


GEN.  NATHANIEL  PEABODY  137 

real  weakness  of  America,  but  ruining  our  finances, 
which  is  well  nigh  completed,  and  on  our  not  having  an 
army  properly  established  in  the  field.  It  might  not  be 
improper  to  observe  in  this  place,  that  the  usual  calcula 
tions  in  all  armies  are  that  a  much  greater  proportion  of 
men  die  from  sickness  within  the  first  four  months  of 
camp  life  than  for  four  years  after  that  term  has  ex 
pired."  He  was  opposed  to  short  enlistments,  but  wished 
all  to  be  for  the  war.  He  compliments  New  Hampshire : 
"  I  cannot  conclude  without  mentioning  the  high  sense  I 
entertain  of  the  honor  and  merit  due  that  State  for  its 
decisive  and  spirited  exertions  at  this  critical  and  alarm 
ing  juncture.  It  is  confessed  by  many  that  no  other 
State  in  the  Union  has  a  claim  to  higher,  if  there  is  one 
to  equal,  merit  with  the  State  of  New  Hampshire  upon 
this  occasion." 

There  were  complaints  made  in  regard  to  General 
Greene,  so  that  he  intended  to  resign,  and  Colonel  Pea- 
body  wrote  him  a  letter  dated  Morristown,  Sept.  18, 
1780,  to  dissuade  him  from  such  a  step.  He  said :  "  I 
have  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  I  fully  joined  with 
my  colleagues  in  representing  to  Congress  the  probable 
consequences  of  your  resignation,  and  of  making  a 
change  of  men  and  measures  at  so  late  a  period  of  the 
campaign,  and  have  shared  largely  in  the  honor  of  being 
censured  for  giving  out  sentiments  upon  the  subject." 
The  judgment  of  history  has  been  that  General  Greene 
was  next  to  Washington  the  ablest  general  of  the  Rev 
olutionary  War.  He  was  soon  after  appointed  general 
of  the  South,  and  had  a  large  share  in  the  movements 
that  forced  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis  and  the  close 
of  the  war.  It  reflected  much  credit  on  Colonel  Peabody 


138  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER   ARTICLES 

that  he  sustained  General  Greene,  and  won  his  friend 
ship. 

The  report  of  the  committee  excited  much  opposition 
in  Congress,  and  its  members  were  severely  censured. 
In  regard  to  which  Colonel  Peabody  wrote  :  "  Do  you 
imagine  a  sacrifice  of  three  men  only  could  by  any  means 
expiate  the  sins  of  those  who  have  begun  to  crucify  them 
for  no  other  fault  than  speaking  the  truth,  and  of  en 
deavoring  upon  just  principles  to  promote  the  situation 
of  a  distressed  sinking  country  ?  Though  I  should  highly 
esteem  the  good  will  and  opinion  of  Congress,  and  should 
place  the  approbation  of  my  fellow  citizens  among  my 
choicest  treasures,  yet  neither  the  frowns  nor  flattery  of 
the  former,  nor  the  expectation  of  applause  from  the 
latter,  nor  any  other  consideration  whatever,  shall  in  any 
circumstance  of  life  induce  me  to  censure,  or  approve, 
men  or  measures  contrary  to  my  real  sentiments." 

In  a  letter  to  Richard  Henry  Lee,  dated  Morristown, 
Oct.  7,  1780,  he  wrote :  "  I  cannot  quit  the  subject 
without  congratulating  you,  my  dear  sir,  on  the  appoint 
ment  of  Major-General  Greene  to  the  command  of  the 
Southern  Army.  That  gentleman's  great  abilities  in  the 
field,  his  extensive  knowledge  of  the  various  depart 
ments  in  the  army,  gives  him  the  advantage  of  almost  any 
other  general  officer  in  America  in  restoring  immediately 
to  order  and  system  an  army  and  its  officers,  which  at 
present  are  almost  without  form  and  void.  But,  alas  !  of 
what  avail  will  be  the  exertions  of  the  greatest  generals 
unless  aided  with  men,  money,  and  other  necessary  sup 
plies  ?  In  the  present  deranged  situation  of  our  public 
affairs  can  this  aid  be  furnished  ?  Our  treasury  is  empty, 
our  military  and  ordnance  stores  in  that  quarter  are  much 


GEN.  NATHANIEL   PEABODY  139 

exhausted,  and  I  fear  the  resources  of  the  country,  under 
its  present  embarrassments,  will  prove  incompetent  for 
those  other  supplies.  Your  zeal  and  exertion  in  the  cause 
of  our  distressed  country  on  every  former  occasion  for 
bids  my  mentioning  a  single  argument  to  induce  your 
utmost  efforts  in  the  present  alarming  conjuncture." 

In  our  gratitude  to  the  fathers  of  the  Republic  we  are 
inclined  to  think  that  those  then  in  military  and  legis 
lative  positions  were  too  great  patriots  to  have  aught  at 
heart  but  the  good  of  the  country.  The  student  of 
history,  however,  is  aware  that  there  were  divisions  in 
counsel,  and  the  same  rivalry  and  jealousy  so  manifest 
in  our  late  war. 

General  Greene  wrote  to  Colonel  Peabody,  Sept.  6, 
1780,  in  regard  to  the  work  of  the  committee:  "You 
have  your  day  of  difficulty  as  well  as  I.  Congress  seems 
to  have  got  more  out  of  temper  with  the  committee  than 
with  me,  and,  I  am  told,  charge  a  great  part  of  the  diffi 
culties  upon  the  committee  that  have  taken  place  between 
them  and  me.  .  .  .  The  committee  stand  fair  with 
the  army,  and  I  believe  we  are  altogether  indebted  to 
the  committee  for  the  tolerable  state  we  are  in.  I  am 
made  very  unhappy  by  your  long  and  obstinate  sickness. 
When  you  left  the  army  we  were  in  hopes  it  was  only  a 
slight  touch  of  a  fever,  which  a  relaxation  and  recess  from 
business  would  soon  remove  ;  but,  to  my  sorrow,  we  hear 
you  are  still  persecuted  with  an  intermittent  fever,  which 
threatens  you  with  a  long  confinement.  You  have  my 
prayers  for  your  speedy  recovery,  as  well  from  motives 
of  private  friendship  as  for  the  public  good." 

Richard  Henry  Lee  wrote  to  him  in  approval  of  his 
course  in  Congress,  Nov.  2,  1779 :  "  Though  not  per- 


140  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

sonally  acquainted  with  you,  I  hope  I  shall  be  par 
doned  for  this  letter.  I  have  seen  the  proceedings  of 
Congress  in  a  late  affair,  and  I  have  observed  N.H.  sup 
porting  the  cause  of  virtue  against  a  powerful,  and  not 
less  artful  and  wicked,  cabal,  aiming  at  the  public  injury 
through  the  sides  of  its  faithful  servant;  and  I  have 
been  particularly  informed,  sir,  of  your  very  worthy 
support  of  a  character  that  has  not  deserved  the  treat 
ment  he  has  met  with.  New  Hampshire  has  long  been 
celebrated  for  its  spirit,  and  it  has  now  on  an  extraordi 
nary  occasion,  when  powerful  efforts  were  made  to 
debauch  and  mislead,  proved  its  title  to  still  higher 
qualities  of  wisdom  and  virtue.  There  was  a  wicked 
cabal  in  Congress  that  sought  to  ruin  General  Greene 
and  other  men  that  were  an  honor  to  the  country,  and 
whose  services  were  specially  valuable." 

John  Langdon  wrote  to  him  in  complimentary  terms. 
Washington,  also,  thanked  him  for  valuable  information, 
and  expressed  an  interest  in  his  health.  A  perusal  of 
the  Peabody  correspondence,  and  all  that  we  know  of  his 
course  in  Congress,  seem  to  reflect  much  credit  on  him 
and  his  State ;  and  of  all  his  services  his  active  support 
of  General  Greene,  when  such  powerful  influences  were 
used  to  remove  him  from  the  army,  was  one  of  the  most 
important. 

But  his  health  had  long  been  impaired,  and  he  was 
anxious  to  return  home,  and  resigned  Nov.  9,  1780. 
He  soon,  however,  became  again  active  in  State  affairs  ; 
was  a  delegate  to  the  Constitutional  Convention  called 
to  meet  at  Concord,  June  5,  1781,  and  was  chairman  of 
the  committee  that  drafted  it.  The  first  report  of  the 
Convention  was  rejected,  as  has  often  been  the  case  since 


GEN.   NATHANIEL   PEABODY  141 

in  New  Hampshire ;  and  it  was  not  till  Oct.  31,  1783, 
an  interval  of  two  years,  four  months,  and  twenty-six 
days,  that  an  acceptable  constitution  was  framed. 

Colonel  Peabody  was  a  member  of  the  House  in  1782 
and  1783.  June  1,  1782,  he  was  one  of  the  committee 
to  prepare  all  bills  necessary  to  be  passed.  He  was 
appointed  on  a  committee  with  Woodbury  Langdon  and 
Joseph  Whipple,  to  present  an  address  of  the  General 
Assembly  to  Count  de  Vondreuil.  In  1784-5  he  was 
a  member  of  the  House,  was  chosen  counsellor,  and 
appointed  a  justice  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  which 
last  position  he  declined.  At  the  opening  of  the  ses 
sion  of  the  General  Court  in  June,  1784,  the  first  under 
the  new  constitution,  he  was  appointed  chairman  of  a 
committee  "to  make  what  provision  they  shall  judge 
necessary  for  the  entertainment  of  the  revered  clergy 
who  this  day  may  attend  at  this  place,"  showing  the  re 
spect  entertained  by  our  forefathers  for  their  religious 
teachers,  thought  to  be  sadly  wanting  in  this  degener 
ate  age.  He  was  on  the  committee  to  prepare  rules  for 
the  government  of  the  House,  and  to  draft  all  such  bills 
as  were  thought  necessary  to  be  passed.  During  the 
session  he  served  on  committees  to  determine  what  action 
shall  be  taken  on  Continental  money  in  the  hands  of 
private  persons  in  the  State,  to  make  sale  of  the  excise, 
to  see  what  can  be  done  about  horse-thieves,  about  the 
property  of  refugees  that  may  return,  about  State  notes 
issued  prior  to  1775,  on  the  better  observance  of  the 
Lord's  Day,  on  the  amount  of  money  to  be  raised  the 
current  year,  to  nominate  managers  of  the  Dartmouth 
College  lottery,  and  on  nearly  all  the  important  com 
mittees. 


142  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER   ARTICLES 

In  the  Legislature  of  1785  he  was  senator  from  Rock- 
ingham  County,  and  was  elected  counsellor.  June  21 
he  was  elected  delegate  to  Congress  for  one  year  from 
the  following  November,  but  he  probably  did  not  take 
his  seat.  He  was  appointed  one  of  a  committee  to 
revise  the  laws  of  the  State.  He  reported  a  bill  for  a 
lottery  to  raise  money  to  build  a  bridge  over  Sugar 
River  at  Newport.  Lotteries,  so  much  condemned  now, 
were  a  favorite  way  of  raising  money  at  that  period. 

In  1786  he  was  not  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  and 
his  opponents  took  the  opportunity  to  injure  his  good 
name.  A  vote  was  passed  June  21  to  recall  him  as  a 
delegate  to  Congress,  and  July  31  it  was  voted  in  the 
House  :  "  That  an  address  be  presented  to  the  President 
that  the  appointment  of  Nath'l  Peabody,  Esq.,  to  the 
office  of  brig,  general  of  light-horse  brigade  has  given 
the  good  citizens  of  the  State  much  uneasiness,  and,  we 
fear,  will  retard  (if  not  entirely  hinder)  the  arrangement 
and  forming  of  that  important  corps,  as  gentlemen  of 
character  and  fortune  will  not  serve  under  him ;  and, 
therefore,  we  pray  that  your  excellency,  with  the  advice 
of  the  council,  will  remove  said  Peabody  from  that 
important  post,  in  order  that  it  may  be  filled  by  a 
person  more  to  acceptance." 

It  will  be  observed  that  no  distinct  charges  affecting 
his  integrity  are  made,  and  we  can  only  infer  that  it 
was  the  result  of  personal  unpopularity.  It  is  singular 
that  the  same  House  repented  of  its  action,  and  Decem 
ber  27,  only  a  few  months  later,  voted :  "  That  the  vote 
of  this  House  of  the  24th  of  June  last  respecting  the 
removal  of  Nath'l  Peabody,  Esq.,  from  the  office  of 
brig,  general  of  light-horse  (which  was  not  concurred 


GEN.   NATHANIEL   PEABODY  143 

in  by  the  Hon.  Senate)  be  reconsidered,  and  made 
null  and  void."  The  opposition  to  him  did  not  appear 
to  have  lessened  his  popularity  and  influence,  for  he  was 
chosen  a  member  of  the  next  Legislature. 

He  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  House  in  1787,  was 
elected  speaker  pro  tempore,  and,  as  usual,  on  the  com 
mittee  to  consider  the  message  of  the  governor.  He 
was  appointed  on  committees  to  consider  a  further  re 
vision  of  the  laws  on  the  bill  to  prevent  the  bodies  of 
debtors  being  taken  on  execution,  a  law  that  later  bore 
so  severely  on  himself ;  and  was  chairman  of  a  committee 
to  receive  revenues  by  excise,  and  to  make  sale  of  excise 
for  Rockingham  county.  He  was  chairman  of  commit 
tees  on  schools,  on  receiving  State  notes  for  taxes,  and  to 
draft  all  bills  directed  to  be  drawn  during  recess.  He 
was  on  the  committee  to  act  on  the  proposed  convention 
to  ratify  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  on 
the  committee  that  reported  in  favor  of  a  Dartmouth 
College  lottery,  not  to  exceed  .£1,800. 

He  was  representative  in  1788,  and  chairman  of  com 
mittees  on  a  new  State  valuation,  on  the  salary  of  the 
President,  to  consider  the  military  laws  of  the  State, 
and  to  act  on  most  questions  relating  to  finance.  The 
first  election  for  United  States  senators  occurred  this 
year,  and  the  first  chosen  was  John  Langdon.  In  the 
ballot  for  a  second  senator  General  Peabody  received  in 
the  House  forty  votes  to  thirty-six  for  all  others,  and 
was  chosen  on  the  part  of  the  House,  but  the  Senate 
did  not  concur,  giving  him  only  two  yeas  to  six  nays. 
Josiah  Bartlett  was  chosen,  but  declined,  and  later  Paine 
Wingate  was  elected.  It  was  certainly  a  high  honor  to 
have  come  so  near  an  election  to  so  coveted  a  position, 


144  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

with  so  many  able  men,  as  New  Hampshire  always  had, 
from  whom  to  select.  This  failure  was  due  to  personal 
opponents,  whom  he  generally  made  no  attempt  to  con 
ciliate,  and  especially  to  a  bitter  speech  and  active  ef 
forts  of  William  Plumer,  then  a  young  man,  later  gov 
ernor  of  the  State. 

General  Peabody  was  a  member  of  the  House  in 
1789,  and  was  chairman  of  committees  to  report  on  the 
message  of  the  governor  and  necessary  business  —  on  the 
distribution  of  insolvent  estates,  on  the  sale  of  property 
for  taxes,  to  run  a  line  on  the  northern  part  of  the  State, 
and  to  see  if  the  State  laws  militate  against  those  of 
the  United  States.  It  was  voted,  Jan.  23,  1790,  that 
Jeremiah  Smith,  Nathaniel  Peabody,  and  John  Samuel 
Sherburne  be  a  committee  to  select,  revise,  and  arrange 
all  the  laws  and  resolves  of  the  State  in  one  volume,  with 
an  index,  and  later  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  com 
mittee  to  inspect  the  press  during  the  printing.  It  was 
certainly  an  extraordinary  compliment  to  be  placed  on 
such  a  committee  for  one  not  a  member  of  the  legal  pro 
fession. 

In  1790  General  Peabody  was  chosen  a  member  of  the 
House,  and  later  elected  senator  by  the  Legislature,  and 
took  an  active  part  in  all  the  proceedings.  A  petition 
was  presented  for  the  incorporation  of  Atkinson  Acad 
emy,  and  to  authorize  a  lottery.  The  request  for  the 
lottery  was  rejected,  but  subsequently  granted.  The 
academy  had  been  in  operation  since  1787,  and  was  the 
second  in  the  State  in  the  date  of  its  establishment, 
though  not  incorporated  till  Feb.  3,  1791.  But  little 
money  was  raised  by  the  lottery,  as  Massachusetts  re 
fused  permission  to  allow  the  sale  of  tickets,  though  the 


GEN.  NATHANIEL   PEABODY  145 

Rev.  Stephen  Peabody,  whose  wife  was  a  sister  of  John 
Adams,  made  repeated  visits  to  Boston  to  secure  con 
sent.  The  refusal  was  not  based  on  moral  grounds,  but 
the  State  wished  to  retain  the  whole  field  for  home  culti 
vation. 

In  1791  General  Peabody  was  a  member  of  the  House, 
and  elected  speaker,  but  was  soon  after  chosen  senator, 
and  preferred  that  position.  He  was  chairman  of  the 
committee  to  carry  into  effect  that  part  of  the  Constitu 
tion  directing  a  convention  to  be  called  for  a  revision  of 
the  same.  He  made  a  written  protest  against  a  law  in 
regard  to  the  militia  as  unconstitutional,  because  "  it  im 
plied  that  no  law  of  the  United  States  is  valid  in  New 
Hampshire  until  it  has  been  recognized  and  enacted  by 
the  Legislature  of  the  State." 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  at 
Concord,  Sept.  7,  1791,  and  active  and  influential  in  all 
the  debates.  He  was  one  of  the  two  chosen  by  ballot  to 
represent  Rockingham  county  on  the  number  and  pro 
portion  of  senators,  and  was  chairman  of  the  committee 
"  to  take  into  consideration  the  constitution  and  resolves 
passed  at  this  session,  and  the  several  motions  for  altera 
tions  that  have  been  acted  upon,  and  prepare  and  report 
to  the  convention  at  its  adjournment  alterations  and 
amendments  to  be  submitted  to  the  people."  It  was  the 
most  important  committee  of  the  convention.  At  the 
adjournment,  Feb.  8,  1792,  the  convention  resolved 
itself  into  committee  of  the  whole,  with  General  Peabody 
as  chairman.  The  Constitution  was  accepted  by  the 
people,  and  went  into,  operation,  September,  1792.  He 
was  elected  senator  by  the  popular  vote,  for  the  Legisla 
ture  of  1792,  and  March  27, 1793,  was  appointed  major- 


146  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

general  of  the  first  department,  in  place  of  Gen.  Joseph 
Cilley,  declined. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  House  in  1795,  the  last  time 
he  served  in  any  legislative  body.  For  twenty-five 
years  he  had  been  almost  constantly  in  public  life,  and  in 
all  that  period  he  had  received  the  approval  and  confi 
dence  of  the  people  he  represented.  He  had  been  inter 
ested  not  only  in  civil  and  military  affairs,  but  in  all  that 
seemed  to  him  of  benefit  to  the  community.  He  was 
active  in  the  cause  of  education,  was  one  of  the  most 
active  in  founding  Atkinson  Academy,  so  prominent  in 
its  early  history,  aided  young  men  to  secure  an  edu 
cation,  and  helped  to  establish  a  circulating  library  that 
did  much  for  the  general  intelligence  of  the  community. 
He  was  one  of  the  principal  founders  of  the  New  Hamp 
shire  Medical  Society,  in  1791.  He  was  a  friend  of 
Dartmouth  College,  and  in  appreciation  of  his  interest 
he  received  a  special  invitation  to  attend  the  Commence 
ment,  at  which  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  was  con 
ferred  on  him.  Though  his  many  and  varied  other 
duties  occupied  much  of  his  time,  he  continued  to  prac 
tise  his  profession,  and  sustained  his  reputation  as  an 
able  physician. 

His  declination  of  all  public  office  after  1795  was  due 
in  part  to  ill-health,  but  more  to  debts  from  which  he 
could  not  extricate  himself  by  the  easy  methods  of  mod 
ern  civilization.  Not  only  could  all  the  property  of  the 
debtor  be  seized,  but  his  person  living,  and  even  his  dead 
body,  could  be  attached.  A  striking  instance  was  that 
of  Major-Gen.  John  Sullivan.  To  few  had  the  country 
been  so  much  indebted  for  valuable  patriotic  service. 
He  was  a  delegate  to  the  first  Continental  Congress,  in 


GEN.   NATHANIEL   PEABODY  147 

1774,  —  had  had  a  long  and  distinguished  military 
career,  had  represented  his  State  in  many  positions,  and 
had  been  its  president.  Largely  from  neglect  of  his  af 
fairs  in  the  cause  of  his  country,  he  had  become  involved 
in  debt,  and  when  he  died,  in  1795,  by  means  of  the 
statute  then  in  operation,  his  body  was  attached,  and 
held  from  burial,  until  General  Cilley,  his  old  companion 
in  arms,  drawing  his  pistols,  held  the  creditors  at  bay 
till  the  remains  were  consigned  to  earth. 

This  same  law  was  executed  in  the  case  of  General 
Peabody.  He  had  been  drawn  away  from  his  profession, 
and  public  service  was  not  then,  as  it  often  is  now,  a 
means  of  gaining  wealth.  He  had  often  spoken  in  his 
letters  of  the  sums  he  had  expended  in  attending  to  his 
official  duties.  In  1800  he  stated  that  previous  to  1794 
his  creditors  were  few,  that  the  aggregate  of  their 
demands  on  him  did  not  exceed  twenty  per  cent,  of  the 
debts  due  him,  including  his  lands  and  other  property 
at  a  just  valuation,  although  he  had  before  that  time 
done  many  acts  of  humanity  to  persons  in  distress,  by 
means  of  which  he  had  sustained  considerable  damage. 
He  complained,  also,  of  the  losses  by  suretyship  and  the 
misconduct  of  agents  and  supposed  friends.  Whatever 
may  have  been  the  truth,  whatever  his  business  errors, 
one  thing  was .  certain  in  those  good  old  days  of  our 
fathers,  a  man  must  pay  his  debts  or  must  go  to  jail,  and 
as  General  Peabody  could  not  pay,  he  was  committed  to 
the  jail  at  Exeter,  where  he  was  confined  some  twenty 
years  till  his  decease,  June  27,  1823.  By  a  law  then  in 
force  he  was  allowed  what  was  called  the  "  liberty  of  the 
jail  yard,"  by  which  he  could  go  anywhere  within  pres 
cribed  limits,  which  included  most  of  the  town,  and  he 


148  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER    ARTICLES 

resided  in  a  house  east  of  the  Great  Bridge,  known  as 
the  Racket  House.  He  practised  his  profession,  and 
had  many  patients  drawn  by  his  high  reputation.  The 
governor  of  the  State  was  so  favorable  to  him  that  his 
commission  as  justice  of  the  peace  was  continued  to  him 
nearly  to  the  last.  His  intellect  was  unimpaired  even  in 
his  old  age.  His  wife  survived  him  several  years.  No 
children  had  ever  been  born  to  them. 

It  is  not  easy  to  write  history,  and  almost  impossible 
biography.  When  the  writer  was  a  young  man  it  was 
a  favorite  topic  for  the  local  debating  society,  "  Was 
Cromwell  an  honest  man  ? "  and  both  sides  of  the 
question  convinced  themselves.  Abbott's  "  Life  of 
Napoleon  "  pleased  the  French,  and  was  very  popular  with 
the  many  admirers  of  the  great  soldier,  yet  Caleb  Gush 
ing  used  to  say  he  could  point  out  twenty  errors  on 
every  page.  The  writer  has  heard  favorable  and  un 
favorable  opinions  of  General  Peabody  in  the  town 
where  he  lived.  All  are  now  dead  who  could  speak  of 
him  from  personal  knowledge,  and  a  century  ago  there 
were  but  few  newspapers  to  discuss  men,  and  if  there 
had  been  more  the  difficulty  in  forming  a  just  estimate 
might  have  been  increased. 

It  is  difficult  to  read  a  review  of  General  Peabody's 
life,  his  prominence  in  all  the  positions  he  filled,  and  his 
influence,  without  the  conviction  that  he  was  one  of  the 
ablest  men  of  his  time  in  New  Hampshire,  and  one  to 
whom  the  State  was  greatly  indebted  at  a  critical  period 
of  her  history.  Educated  as  a  physician,  untaught  in 
schools,  he  was  a  power  in  the  State  and  nation.  He 
was  an  authority  even  in  positions  requiring  high  legal 
knowledge,  and  associated  with  such  eminent  lawyers  as 


GEN.  NATHANIEL   PEABODY  149 

Jeremiah  Smith.  At  nearly  every  session  of  the  Legis 
lature  he  was  on  committees  to  direct  the  most  im 
portant  legislation,  and  on  all  questions  he  was  a  leader, 
not  a  follower.  He  wrote  well  and  debated  well.  We 
have  good  testimony  in  regard  to  him  from  those  who 
spoke  from  knowledge.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Bouton,  so 
learned  in  New  Hampshire  history,  in  a  notice  of  him 
said :  "  He  was  one  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of  his 
time.  .  .  .  By  turns  he  held  almost  every  office 
of  trust  and  honor  in  the  town  and  State,  selectman, 
representative,  justice  of  the  peace  and  quorum,  colonel, 
adjutant-general  of  the  State,  member  of  the  Continental 
Congress,  major-general  of  militia." 

John  Farmer,  to  whom  New  Hampshire  is  so  much 
indebted  for  biographies  of  her  prominent  men,  published 
a  sketch  of  General  Peabody,  January,  1824,  less  than  a 
year  after  his  decease,  when  he  could  know  the  opinions 
of  his  contemporaries,  and  his  estimate  of  him  is  entitled 
to  more  credit  than  any  other  source  of  information. 
He  thus  spoke  of  him :  "  His  perceptions  were  quick, 
his  invention  powerful,  his  reasoning  tolerably  prompt, 
just,  and  perspicuous,  and  his  memory  remarkably  tena 
cious,  but  he  was  most  distinguished  for  his  caustic  wit 
and  resistless  ridicule."  "At  the  time  when  he  was 
speaker  his  influence  was  so  great  that  by  means  of 
three  or  four  associates  lie  ruled  the  State."  "  He  was 
an  able  and  leading  legislator."  "  In  his  habits  he  was 
regular  and  correct;  he  ate  and  drank  but  little,  and 
that  of  the  best,  and  seldom  slept  more  than  four  or  five 
hours."  "  One  who  knew  him  well  for  forty  years 
always  considered  him  a  cheerful,  sociable,  witty,  and 
friendly  man.  He  was  generous,  sincere,  and  constant, 


150  BIOGBAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

never  deserting  a  friend  in  the  hour  of  need."  "  His 
character  was  honored  by  a  man  so  universally  esteemed 
and  respected  as  his  friend  General  Sullivan."  "He 
was  a  patron  of  merit  and  enterprise,  and  several  young 
men  were  indebted  to  him  for  a  liberal  education."  "'His 
mind  was  steeled  against  vicissitudes  —  they  did  not 
sour  his  temper  nor  cloud  his  intellect.  His  mental 
powers  were  but  little  impaired  by  age,  and  he  bore  the 
anguish  of  sickness  and  disease  with  fortitude."  *'  But 
General  Peabody  was  not  without  foibles  and  faults, 
He  was  always  rather  vain  and  opinionative.  At 
middle  age  he  was  almost  passionately  fond  of  dress  and 
ostentatious  parade,  and  expended  large  sums  for  that 
purpose.  He  was  a  fine  horseman,  and  in  his  golden 
days  usually  travelled  with  the  most  elegant  horses  (of 
which  he  was  a  good  judge  and  great  admirer),  attended 
by  his  servant." 

"  On  a  candid  review  of  General  Peabody's  long  life," 
wrote  Mr.  Farmer,  "  we  are  compelled  to  the  conclusion 
that  he  was  a  useful  citizen,  an  enlightened  politician, 
and  in  times  of  trial  and  danger  as  well  as  in  the  halcyon 
days  of  peace  and  prosperity,  a  firm  and  ardent  friend  of 
his  country.  When  the  waves  of  time  shall  have  rolled 
over  the  present  generation,  and  washed  away  the  last 
trace  of  prejudice  and  enmity  from  his  character,  who 
will  venture  to  predict  that  he  will  not  be  placed 
by  grateful  posterity  in  the  bright  and  glorious  constel 
lation  of  Revolutionary  worthies,  and  with  his  compa 
triots  and  friends,  the  illustrious  Weare,  Bartlett,  Sulli 
van,  Langdon,  Lee,  Laurens,  Greene,  Matthews,  Gerry, 
and  Schuyler,  shine  with  unclouded  lustre,  through  long 
ages  of  American  freedom  and  glory  ?  " 


GEN.  NATHANIEL   PEABODY  151 

It  is  to  his  credit  that  in  his  long  career  he  retained  the 
support  of  his  constituents,  who  returned  him  to  the 
Legislature  till  his  voluntary  retirement.  It  is  also  to  be 
remarked  that  though  his  habits  were  expensive  and  he 
was  often  in  need  of  money,  and  was  entrusted  from 
time  to  time  with  large  sums  by  the  State,  as  far  as  I 
know  no  suspicion  of  the  wrong  use  of  public  money 
was  ever  charged  against  him,  so  common  a  crime  in  our 
modern  civilization. 

Governor  Bell,  in  his  history  of  Exeter,  has  a  notice 
of  General  Peabody  as  one  of  the  distinguished  persons 
who  had  resided  in  the  town,  though  detained  as  a  pris 
oner.  He  thus  speaks  of  him :  "  General  Peabody  in  his 
best  days  had  the  confidence  and  respect  of  the  promi 
nent  men  among  whom  he  moved.  But  pecuniary  em 
barrassments  exposed  him  to  dishonorable  dealings,  and 
his  manners  were  not  such  as  to  render  him  an  agreeable 
companion.  He  was  cynical  in  his  notions,  and  having 
great  powers  of  endurance,  he  had  little  patience  with 
those  who  complained.  He  had  probably  acquired  the 
rough  habits  and  expressions  of  the  camp,  also,  and  em 
ployed  them  without  much  discrimination.  He  is  said 
to  have  been  a  man  of  wit,  and  to  have  had  a  softer  side. 
But  apparently  he  did  not  often  present  it  to  others. 
He  was  undoubtedly  a  man  of  much  ability,  and,  if  he 
had  paid  less  attention  to  public  affairs  and  more  to  his 
own,  might  have  acquired  fortune  and  a  life  of  ease. 
His  patriotic  services  for  his  country  entitle  him  to  our 
gratitude,  and  his  foibles  may  well  be  consigned  to  ob 
livion." 

The  remark  of  Governor  Bell  that  General  Peabody 
would  have  died  richer,  and  led  a  life  of  ease,  if  he  had 


152  BIOGRAPHICAL  AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

attended  more  to  private  and  less  to  public  affairs,  was 
true  of  him,  and  could  have  been  made  then  of  most  men 
in  public  life.  Allusion  has  been  made  to  the  case  of  Gen 
eral  Sullivan,  and  it  is  well  known  that  the  private  affairs 
of  Washington  suffered  by  his  army  service.  No  one 
could  have  grown  rich  by  the  Revolutionary  War,  but 
he  served  his  country  in  the  hour  of  need,  the  only  re 
ward  expected.  Now  in  these  "  halcyon  days,"  to  quote 
from  Governor  Bell  the  expression,  millionaires  are 
elected  to  Congress  and  other  halls  of  legislation,  and 
grow  richer  and  richer  while  they  serve  rich  corporations 
and  their  country. 

The  aim  of  all  true  biography  should  be  to  photograph 
the  man.  If  Oliver  Cromwell  had  a  large  wart  on  his 
face,  the  artist  should  paint  it.  In  too  many  biographies 
the  high  qualities  of  the  man,  his  freedom  from  faults 
have  become  for  the  first  time  revealed.  When  I  once 
criticised  a  distinguished  author  of  biographies  for  the 
perfection  of  his  heroes,  he  replied  that  it  was  not  right 
to  turn  a  man  out  into  the  world  naked.  It  seems  more 
honest,  however,  to  tell  the  truth,  as  is  done  in  the 
Bible,  where  the  crimes  as  well  as  the  virtues  of  David 
and  Solomon  are  faithfully  given,  and  present  the  real 
man.  It  should  be  said,  then,  as  Governor  Bell  inti 
mates,  that  the  tradition  in  his  town  is  not  entirely  fa 
vorable  to  General  Peabody.  His  ability  and  patriotism 
have  not  been  questioned,  but  he  was  said  to  have  lacked 
integrity,  and  to  have  wronged  those  who  trusted  him. 
He  was,  also,  skeptical  in  his  religious  views,  a  sin  not 
so  easily  forgiven  in  those  Puritan  days  as  now.  He 
had  expensive  tastes,  whose  indulgence  required  far 
more  than  his  professional  income,  and  he  may  have 


GEN.  NATHANIEL  PEABODY  153 

been  tempted  to  wrong  acts,  so  common  to  humanity,  to 
gratify  them.  Even  Washington  has  been  said  of  late 
to  have  had  some  blemishes,  and  in  a  recent  discussion 
I  heard  a  man  say  that  he  was  glad  to  know  that  the 
"  Father  of  his  Country  "  was  human,  like  himself.  But, 
whatever  may  have  been  the  faults  of  General  Peabody, 
he  suffered  a  severe  punishment  in  the  loss  of  personal 
liberty  for  twenty  years,  and  it  should  not  be  forgotten 
how  faithfully  he  loved  and  served  his  country. 

The  many  patriotic  and  historical  societies  are  now 
honoring  as  never  before  the  memory  of  those  who 
founded  the  Republic,  and  among  them  General  Peabody 
well  deserves  to  be  remembered.  It  is  a  coincidence 
that  he  died  the  year  the  New  Hampshire  Historical 
Society,  for  which  this  article  was  prepared,  was  es 
tablished.  He  left  no  descendants  to  honor  him.  Let 
this  society,  then,  do  justice  to  his  great  ability,  his 
patriotism,  and  his  distinguished  services. 

His  wife  died  at  her  brother  Daniel's  home  in  Harnp- 
stead,  Feb.  8,  1831,  having  survived  her  husband  nearly 
eight  years. 


A  SUMMER  IN  NORWAY 


I  WENT  to  Norway  in  1879,  before  it  had  been  gener 
ally  visited  by  tourists,  and  before  even  Baedeker  had 
issued  a  guide-book  of  the  country.  There  are  two  lines 
of  steamboats  from  Great  Britain  to  Norway  —  one  from 
Leith,  the  port  of  Edinboro',  the  other  from  Hull.  I 
chose  the  latter,  because  nearest  to  London,  my  starting 
point.  My  route  to  Hull  was  near  the  east  coast  of 
England,  through  a  country  of  peculiar  historical  in 
terest,  and  with  many  noted  towns.  Peterborough  has 
a  grand  cathedral,  where  are  interred  the  remains  of 
Catherine  of  Aragon,  and  Mary  Queen  of  Scots.  This 
section,  however,  is  most  interesting  to  a  native  of  New 
England  as  the  old  home  of  the  Pilgrim  fathers,  who 
first  gathered  as  an  independent  sect  at  Scrooby,  a  little 
village  on  the  line  of  the  railroad ;  then  moved  east  to 
Boston,  on  the  coast ;  then  to  Holland,  and  subsequently, 
in  the  "  Mayflower,"  to  America.  I  went  a  few  miles 
out  of  my  way  to  visit  York,  the  metropolis  of  the  old 
Romans  in  England,  where  Hadrian  and  other  Roman 
emperors  lived,  Constantine  the  Great  was  born,  and 
Severus  died.  It  was  famous  in  all  the  early  English 
wars.  Its  great  pride  now  is  its  cathedral,  probably  the 
grandest  in  England.  Hull  is  a  large  thriving  seaport, 
very  different  from  its  little  namesake  on  our  coast. 

When  I  went  on  board  the  steamer  I  found  it 

154 


A   SUMMER   IN  NORWAY  155 

crowded,  for  it  was  the  season  to  visit  Norway.  We  ex 
pected  to  start  early  in  the  afternoon,  but  some  broken 
machinery  caused  delay,  and  an  Englishman,  full  of  in 
dignation  that  any  accident  should  happen  to  a  steam 
boat  where  he  was  on  board,  at  once  telegraphed  to  Mr. 
Wilson,  principal  owner  of  the  line  and  a  member  of 
Parliament,  that  all  the  passengers  were  deeply  dis 
gusted.  We  all  went  to  our  state-rooms  at  last,  and 
when  I  awoke  at  daybreak  the  next  morning  we  were 
just  leaving  the  harbor.  If  any  one  expects  to  find  in 
the  steamers  plying  between  the  different  ports  of  Europe 
the  comforts  of  theAtlantic  and  our  American  boats,  he 
will  be  disappointed.  I  had  one  of  the  best  berths  on 
the  boat,  for  I  had  engaged  my  passage  early,  and  the 
fare  was  more  than  I  had  ever  paid  before  for  an  equal 
distance ;  yet  four  of  us  were  crowded  into  one  state 
room,  so  small  that  only  one  could  dress  and  wash  at  a 
time.  The  passengers  were  of  many  nationalities,  as  is 
the  case  on  all  European  steamers,  most  of  them  Ameri 
cans  and  English,  visiting  Norway  from  curiosity  or  to 
hunt  and  fish.  One  of  the  Americans  soon  made  the  ac 
quaintance  of  all  on  board,  and  as  he,  like  myself,  was 
bound  for  the  North  Cape,  I  was  destined  to  see  much 
of  him  for  the  next  few  weeks.  He  had  a  large  fine 
physical  development,  reminding  me  of  Charles  Sumner, 
though  the  comparison  should  not  be  extended  too  far. 
Like  a  few  more  of  his  countrymen,  he  was  always 
ready  to  express  an  opinion  on  any  subject,  however  ab 
struse,  at  a  moment's  warning.  He  had  been  a  miner, 
had  owned  a  coffee  plantation,  had  been  a  speculator, 
and  travelled  the  world  over  ;  had  become  a  doctor  (by 
which  title  we  all  addressed  him)  —  whether  with  or 


156  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER    ARTICLES 

without  study  I  do  not  know ;  had  made  money,  and 
then,  very  naturally,  had  drifted  to  Paris.  He  was  a 
remarkably  well-preserved  man,  and  always  in  good 
spirits,  whether  because  he  had  married  three  times  or 
become  three  times  a  widower,  I  cannot  say.  One  trait 
was  marked  in  him,  perhaps  from  his  residence  in  Cali 
fornia,  —  he  was  always  anxious  to  bet  on  something,  no 
matter  what. 

The  North  Sea  is  generally  unpleasant,  but  it  received 
us  very  kindly,  and  a  smooth  passage  of  thirty-six  hours 
brought  us  among  the  rocks  on  the  coast  of  Norway.  A 
fog  came  over  us,  and  we  were  obliged  to  stop  till  it 
cleared  away.  This  gave  the  doctor  an  opportunity  to 
propose  a  pool  on  the  hour  when  we  should  land  at  Sta- 
vanger,  the  first  port  at  which  we  were  to  touch.  Each 
one  who  participated  was  to  pay  a  given  sum,  and  name 
the  hour,  and  the  one  who  came  nearest  the  time  was  to 
receive  all  the  money.  The  fog  detained  us  but  a  few 
hours,  and  then,  with  a  clear  sky,  we  wound  our  way 
among  great  rocks  into  the  harbor  of  Stavanger,  about 
nine  o'clock  in  the  evening,  but  in  broad  daylight.  The 
work  of  the  day  was  over,  and  a  great  crowd  of  men, 
women,  and  children  were  gathered  on  the  wharf  to  re 
ceive  us,  who  scanned  us  with  as  much  curiosity  as  we 
them.  We  were  to  stop  here  several  hours,  and  we  all 
went  on  shore  to  see  the  place.  Several  men  and  boys 
came  forward,  and  in  broken  English  offered  to  guide 
us,  but  a  few  of  us  put  ourselves  in  charge  of  an  Oxford 
professor  of  our  party,  who  had  been  there  often  before. 
He  was  a  very  plain-looking  man,  with  his  long  gray 
beard  and  smoking  a  pipe,  but  his  old  slouch  hat  covered 
brains  enough  to  make  a  score  of  average  Congressmen. 


A   SUMMER   IN   NORWAY  157 

Stavanger  is  a  thriving,  busy  town  of  20,000  inhabi 
tants  ;  built  on  rocky,  irregular  ground,  its  houses  gener 
ally  of  wood,  and  one-story;  its  streets  narrow  and 
irregular.  It  is  one  of  the  oldest  towns  in  Norway,  dat 
ing  back  to  the  eighth  century.  We  visited  an  old  light 
house  tower  on  an  eminence  in  the  centre,  from  which 
we  had  a  fine  view  of  the  surrounding  country.  On  the 
walls  inside  were  portraits  of  different  generals  cel 
ebrated  in  our  late  war,  and  under  them  the  words 
"  Honor  the  Brave."  Truth  to  history  compels  me  to 
state  the  names  were  those  of  Stonewall  Jackson  and 
other  famous  leaders  of  the  Confederate  army,  showing 
that  the  sympathies  of  the  people  were  with  the  South 
in  our  struggle.  The  most  interesting  object  in  the 
town  is  its  cathedral,  one  of  the  oldest  and  finest  in  Nor 
way,  dating  back  to  the  eleventh  century,  the  best  speci 
men  of  early  English  and  Norman  architecture  I  have 
ever  seen,  —  better,  our  Oxford  professor  told  us,  than 
any  in  England.  I  noticed  one  peculiarity  on  the  signs 
in  Stavanger  which  I  had  never  seen  before,  but  which  I 
found  was  universal  in  the  country.  If  a  woman  doing 
business  was  a  widow,  the  word  enke,  the  Norwegian  for 
widow,  was  added.  For  example,  if  the  widow  of  John 
Smith  continued  the  business  the  sign  would  read : 
"  John  Smith's  Widow"  Such  a  sign  in  America,  I 
think,  would  be  taken  as  indicating  the  willingness  of 
John  Smith's  widow  to  form  a  partnership  in  the  busi 
ness. 

We  left  Stavanger  a  little  before  midnight,  and  at  ten 
o'clock  the  next  morning  were  at  Bergen,  where  I  left 
the  English  steamboat.  This  is  the  largest  city  on  the 
West  Coast,  and  the  second  in  Norway  in  size,  with  a 


158  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER    ARTICLES 

population  of  40,000,  and  by  far  the  most  interesting  to 
visit.  It  is  very  old,  having  been  founded  by  King  Olaf 
in  1070,  and  for  centuries  it  was  the  most  important 
place  in  the  kingdom,  and  the  scene  of  many  remarkable 
events.  It  soon  became  the  centre  of  the  fish  trade  of 
Norway,  and  probably  now  is  the  greatest  fish  mart  in  the 
world.  It  is  located  on  a  hilly  peninsula  and  isthmus,  with 
mountains  behind  it  rising  to  the  height  of  2,000  feet, 
high  up  the  slopes  of  which  are  beautiful  villas.  I  have 
seen  but  few  cities  so  picturesque  and  attractive,  or  pre 
senting  finer  views.  The  streets  are  generally  narrow, 
with  small  sidewalks,  if  any,  so  that  the  people  walk  in 
the  middle.  The  houses  are  nearly  all  of  wood,  and  with 
two  stories.  Along  the  water's  edge  are  immense  fish 
houses  of  peculiar  construction,  and  two  old  forts  are 
more  remarkable  for  the  service  they  have  rendered  in 
the  past  than  formidable  for  the  future.  I  arrived  on  a 
bright  Sunday  morning,  and  the  harbor  was  full  of  ves 
sels,  all  with  flags  flying,  and  the  streets  were  filled  with 
people  clad  in  their  best  clothes.  It  was  the  longest  day 
in  the  year,  and  was  observed  as  a  holiday,  and  at  night 
fires  were  built  on  the  mountains  around,  a  custom 
always  observed  on  that  day.  I  attended  service  at  the 
cathedral,  an  old  church  of  strange  architecture.  There 
were  double  galleries,  partitioned  off  into  stalls  like  a 
theatre  for  the  seclusion  of  the  worshippers  of  the  better 
classes.  The  clergyman  wore  around  his  neck  a  wide 
plaited  collar,  what  a  Scotchman  said  was  a  "  John  Knox 
ruffle."  The  singing  was  congregational,  the  numbers 
of  the  hymns  put  up  in  different  parts  of  the  church,  as 
in  Germany.  The  people  sat  or  stood,  as  they  inclined. 
After  the  service  there  was  the  baptism  of  a  child,  which 


A   SUMMER   IN   NORWAY  159 

was  long,  and  attended  with  much  ceremony,  the  parents 
and  friends  entering  and  leaving  with  a  formal  proces 
sion,  and  the  congregation  rising  to  do  them  honor.  The 
baptismal  font  was  held  in  the  arms  of  an  angel  suspended 
from  above,  as  if  coming  down  to  bless  the  child  thus 
presented  to  God  by  its  parents. 

There  are  many  very  pleasant  excursions  in  the  neigh 
borhood  of  Bergen.  One  day  a  gentleman,  whose  ac 
quaintance  I  had  made,  took  me  to  his  house  a  few 
miles  distant.  He  had  an  immense  estate,  comprising 
fifteen  distinct  farms,  which  had  been  many  years  in  his 
family.  He  told  me  his  father  had  lived  to  the  age  of 
ninety-two.  He  showed  me  a  beech-tree  seven  hundred 
years  old,  and  seventeen  feet  round,  and  offered  me 
wine  fifty  years  old.  His  estate  had  an  abundance  of 
apple  and  cherry  trees,  gooseberries,  currants,  and  grow 
ing  all  around  were  horse-chestnut  trees,  the  English 
hawthorne,  azaleas,  honeysuckles,  tulips,  etc.,  etc. 

He  told  me  the  winters  were  not  very  cold,  the  ther 
mometer  rarely  falling  below  15°  Fahrenheit. 

There  was  no  real  darkness,  and  I  found  it  at  first 
difficult  to  sleep.  I  kept  rising  and  looking  out,  and 
could  read  distinctly  at  midnight.  It  took  me  many 
days  to  accustom  myself  to  the  strangeness  of  no  night, 
but  one  unending  day.  I  ought  to  add  in  regard  to 
Bergen,  that,  unlike  Bayard  Taylor,  I  found  a  good 
hotel,  clean,  and  with  good  fare.  It  was  the  hotel  where 
Ole  Bull  stopped  when  in  Bergen,  whose  home  was  only 
a  few  miles  distant. 

From  Bergen  I  took  passage  on  a  Norwegian  steamer 
for  the  North  Cape.  The  boat  was  crowded  with  pas 
sengers  from  many  nations,  and  among  them  a  large 


160  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER   ARTICLES 

party  of  Cook's  excursionists,  made  up  of  Americans 
and  English.  Some  of  the  Americans  were  very  pleas 
ant  people,  among  whom  were  the  well-known  scientific 
gentleman,  Dr.  Smith,  of  Louisville,  and  the  daughter 
and  two  grandchildren  of  James  Guthrie,  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  under  President  Pierce.  Every  state-room 
was  occupied,  and  the  cabin  was  filled  with  temporary 
berths,  of  which  I  had  one,  and  near  me  was  the  American 
doctor  of  whom  I  have  spoken.  He  became  very  much 
excited  the  first  night,  because,  on  retiring,  he  discovered 
that  he  had  lost  a  very  necessary  night  garment,  which 
he  shouted  to  the  waiter  in  English,  louder  and  louder, 
to  find.  It  came  to  him  at  last  that  the  waiter  could 
not  understand  him,  and  he  went  to  bed,  declaring  in 
language  quite  emphatic,  but  such  as  our  Puritan 
Fathers  would  have  strongly  condemned,  that  he  would 
never  again  go  on  a  boat  where  the  waiters  could  not 
understand  English. 

A  voyage  along  the  coast  of  Norway  is,  probably,  un 
like  any  that  could  be  taken  elsewhere.  A  chain  of 
mountains  runs  the  whole  length  of  the  western  part, 
rising  to  the  height  of  7,000  feet,  and  descending  abruptly 
to  the  water,  terminating  often  in  precipitous  cliffs. 
Outside  of  the  true  coast  are  thousands  upon  thousands 
of  rocky  islands  of  all  sizes,  shapes,  and  elevations,  act 
ing  as  a  breakwater.  For  nearly  the  whole  distance  to 
the  North  Cape,  our  course  was  between  these  islands 
and  the  mainland,  in  smooth  water,  rarely  catching  even 
a  glimpse  of  the  ocean.  It  seemed  as  if  we  were  moving 
at  times  on  a  river,  the  high  banks  approaching  so  close 
together  as  to  leave  hardly  room  for  the  ship  to  pass 
through ;  and  then  expanding  we  seemed  to  be  on 


A   SUMMER   IN  NORWAY  161 

a  broad  lake,  the  islands  forming  such  a  maze  that  we 
could  not  tell  how  we  had  entered,  nor  where  would  be 
our  way  out.  It  was  an  enchanting  panorama,  ever  pre 
senting  new  objects  of  interest,  the  rocks  of  the  coast 
and  islands  forming  strange  figures,  to  which  many 
names  have  been  given,  and  the  imagination  suggested 
many  more.  One  island  rising  up  1,700  feet  is  called 
the  "  Horseman's  Island,"  from  its  resemblance  to  a  man 
on  horseback,  the  story  being  that  a  lover  was  turned  to 
stone  on  a  visit  to  his  lady.  Whether  this  sad  fate 
overtook  him  going  or  returning,  the  legend  does  not 
say.  Why  he  should  be  thus  punished,  I  do  not  under 
stand,  for  it  was  a  very  pardonable  offence. 

In  one  place  was  a  mountain  called  Torghaetta,  the 
"  market  hat,"  because  pierced  by  an  immense  hole  re 
sembling  a  hat.  The  captain  kindly  stopped  the  boat 
one  midnight  to  allow  us  to  visit  it  —  a  rough  moun 
tain  walk  of  three  miles.  The  aperture  is  about  500  feet 
long,  and  200  feet  high  and  wide,  and  is  a  remarkable 
natural  curiosity.  We  had  not  yet  reached  the  Arctic 
Circle,  but  it  was  broad  daylight,  and  we  picked  wild  flow 
ers  all  along  in  our  midnight  walk.  We  passed  close  to 
cliffs  rising  3,000  feet  out  of  the  water.  On  all  these 
islands  and  on  the  mainland  here  and  there  was  a  fish 
erman's  little  hut,  for  catching  fish  is  nearly  the  whole 
occupation  of  the  people  of  western  Norway.  The  snow 
and  ice  were  still  on  all  the  mountains  and  high  hills, 
and  it  was  so  strange  to  see  down  close  to  the  water's 
edge  green  grass  and  flowers,  where  there  was  soil 
enough  for  them  to  grow,  —  above  them  a  belt  of  dark 
rock,  —  and,  still  higher  up,  the  white  snow,  or  perhaps 
a  glacier  from  which  were  flowing  innumerable  water- 


162  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER    ARTICLES 

falls.  It  was  hard  to  go  to  bed  with  all  these  changing 
scenes  ever  before  us,  and  most  of  us  remained  on  deck, 
night  after  night,  till  long  after  midnight,  nothing  but 
fatigue  and  our  watches  telling  us  it  was  time  to  retire. 
Some  persons  were  playing  whist  generally  till  two  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  the  sun  always  giving  them  his  light. 

As  we  journeyed  along,  our  boat  touched  at  all  the 
towns  on  the  coast,  remaining  a  longer  or  shorter  time, 
according  to  their  importance.  Some  places  were  small, 
consisting  of  a  half  dozen  fishermen's  houses ;  others 
numbered  a  population  of  some  thousands,  and  here  we 
went  on  shore,  stopping,  sometimes,  one  or  two  days, 
and  examining  everything  of  interest. 

The  first  town  of  importance,  after  leaving  Bergen, 
was  Aalesund,  with  7,000  inhabitants  whose  principal 
business  is  in  fish.  It  is  finely  located,  and  is  of  much 
interest  historically.  Near  this  was  the  home  of  the 
leading  Vikings,  or  sea  kings,  who  roamed  over  all  the 
seas  for  plunder.  A  little  south  was  the  castle  of  Rollo 
the  Walker,  who  became  the  conqueror  of  Normandy, 
and  founder  of  its  duchy,  and  was  the  ancestor  of  Wm. 
the  Conqueror,  and,  of  course,  of  Queen  Victoria.  He 
was  called  "Rollo  the  Walker"  because  he  was  so  large 
a  giant  that  he  could  not  ride  on  a  horse,  and  was 
obliged  to  walk.  From  all  this  neighborhood,  too,  went 
out  the  Northmen,  who,  without  a  doubt,  discovered 
America,  500  years  before  Columbus.  We  went  on 
shore  at  eleven  o'clock  at  night,  but  found  the  streets 
all  quiet.  Almost  the  only  one  I  saw  was  a  man  sitting  on 
his  doorstep  reading  his  newspaper,  by  daylight,  before  he 
went  to  bed.  A  few  hours  later  and  we  reached  Molde, 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  towns  in  Norway,  where  many 


A   SUMMER   IN   NORWAY  163 

travellers  make  a  prolonged  stay.  Then  came  Christian- 
sund,  a  town  of  8,000  population,  picturesquely  located 
on  several  islands,  and  at  midnight  of  the  same  day  we 
entered  the  harbor  of  Throndhjem,  a  large  place  of 
22,000  population,  founded  1016,  and,  next  to  Bergen, 
the  most  important  on  the  western  coast.  We  could  not 
yet  see  the  midnight  sun,  but  the  sky  in  the  west  looked 
as  bright  as  with  us  about  five  minutes  after  sunset,  and 
many  people  were  at  the  wharf  on  business,  or  from 
curiosity. 

I  wish  I  could  describe  this  celebrated  old  city  as  it 
deserves.  An  old  traveller  thinks  its  bay  equal  to  that 
of  Naples.  It  was  founded  by  a  famous  old  sea-king, 
also  a  saint  and  martyr,  St.  Olaf,  about  the  year  1000, 
and  his  body  was  interred  in  the  cathedral,  a  magnificent 
structure,  the  finest  of  the  kind  in  Norway,  where  all 
the  kings  are  crowned.  I  ought  to  add  in  regard  to  this 
St.  Olaf  that  he  was  regarded  as  a  very  cruel  man  while 
he  lived,  and,  like  many  others,  his  holiness  was  not  dis 
covered  till  some  time  after  his  death.  When  it  was 
known  at  last  that  he  was  really  a  saint,  his  resting- 
place  became  the  resort  of  thousands  of  pilgrims,  and 
was  regarded  as  the  holiest  spot  in  Norway.  The 
cathedral  has  fallen  to  decay,  but  is  probably  one  of  the 
best  specimens  of  old  architecture  in  Europe,  and  some 
of  the  stone  carving  is  wonderfully  delicate  and  elaborate. 
The  town  interested  me  much,  and  I  wandered  through 
and  through  its  streets,  examining  all  its  peculiarities 
and  inspecting  its  people.  A  new  railroad  has  been 
opened  connecting  it  with  Christiania,  which  will  add 
much  to  its  prosperity.  I  made  an  excursion  a  few 
miles  distant  to  see  two  waterfalls  which  the  Oxford 


164  BIOGBAPHICAL   AND    OTHER    ARTICLES 

professor  thought  were  the  finest  in  Norway.  They  are 
certainly  fine  falls,  one  about  eighty  feet  and  the  other 
one  hundred  feet  high,  the  river  being  perhaps  five 
hundred  feet  wide.  An  Oxford  student  of  the  com 
pany  seemed  very  much  impressed,  and  turned  to  me 
and  asked  if  Niagara  was  much  superior.  I  informed 
him  that  Niagara  was  twice  as  high,  and  a  thousand 
times  as  large,  and  he  was  silent. 

We  continued  our  course  from  Throndhjem,  between 
islands  and  the  mainland  as  before,  stopping  at  many 
interesting  little  towns.  At  one  place  they  were  holding 
a  fair  of  three  days,  and  the  harbor  was  full  of  boats 
and  people.  The  boats  had  no  keel,  were  very  sharp, 
and  seemed  to  be  only  one  board  thick.  After  two  days 
we  crossed  the  Arctic  Circle,  and  are  at  last  in  the  region 
of  the  midnight  sun,  passing  through  the  wildest  scenery, 
hemmed  in  by  huge  rocks  covered  with  ice  and  snow. 
Bodo  is  the  first  place  of  any  size  in  the  Arctic  zone, 
containing  about  1,500  inhabitants,  on  one  long  street 
parallel  with  the  shore.  Louis  Philippe  once  lived  here 
some  time  when  a  refugee  from  France.  We  landed 
here  at  midnight,  as  we  did  at  many  places,  and  were 
obliged  to  make  much  noise  to  arouse  the  people  with 
whom  the  boat  had  business.  The  midnight  sun  was 
shining,  but  it  was  behind  a  hill,  and  we  could  only  see 
his  reflected  light.  We  walked  through  the  town,  where 
all  was  quiet,  every  store  closed  and  the  people  in  their 
beds,  though  in  many  cases  the  doors  of  the  houses  were 
open,  for  there  is  no  fear  of  thieves  in  Norway.  The 
only  persons  awake  seemed  to  be  here  and  there  a  young 
man  and  woman,  of  immature  age,  sitting  on  a  doorstep, 
or  wandering  at  large  in  earnest  conversation  —  why 


A    SUMMER   IN    NORWAY  165 

out  so  late,  or  what  they  were  talking  about,  most  know 
better  than  myself.  The  Doctor  was  in  unusually  good 
spirits,  and  finding  at  last  a  young  man  playing  a  violin, 
he  hired  him  to  march  through  the  street  at  the  head  of 
the  large  company  on  shore  from  the  boat.  Much  noise 
was  made  and  the  people  began  to  open  their  windows 
and  look  out,  rubbing  their  eyes  and  wondering  at  such 
an  unusual  disturbance.  Soon  an  officer  came  up,  and 
said  such  things  were  never  allowed  there.  Then  the 
doctor  was  anxious  to  get  up  a  pool,  and  proposed  that 
each  one  should  guess  how  many  boards  were  in  a  pile 
a  hundred  feet  away.  This  was  done,  and  the  guesses 
varied  from  twenty  to  two  hundred,  and  many  were  much 
surprised  to  see  how  wild  were  their  estimates.  I 
wandered  off  alone  to  gather  wild  flowers  and  inspect 
from  a  hill  near  by  the  surroundings  of  this  strange  spot 
at  such  an  hour. 

From  Bodo  we  crossed  the  West  Fjord  to  the  Lofoden 
Islands.  Our  course  was  in  the  open  sea,  the  whales 
spouting  all  around  us.  The  Lofoden  group  of  islands 
is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  in  the  world,  forming 
a  perfect  maze  of  mountains,  bays,  and  straits.  The 
mountains  rise  out  of  the  sea,  many  of  them  to  a  height 
of  3,000  feet,  with  countless  pinnacles  and  the  most  re 
markable  shapes,  generally  great  rocks,  destitute  of  vege 
tation.  The  islands  number  thousands,  some  very 
small,  others  with  rivers,  lakes,  and  villages.  Here  is 
the  famous  maelstrom,  defined  when  I  was  a  boy  as  a 
fearful  whirlpool,  drawing  into  its  vortex  vessels  and 
even  whales,  if  they  approached  too  near.  Jules  Verne 
has  made  good  use  of  it  in  one  of  his  stories.  It  has 
now,  however,  like  so  many  creations  of  the  past,  lost 


166  BIOGRAPHICAL  AND   OTHER  ARTICLES 

all  its  terrors.  It  is  simply  a  violent  rushing  of  the  tide 
between  two  islands.  The  whole  area  of  these  islands 
is  about  1,600  square  miles,  and  they  contain  a  popula 
tion  of  20,000,  all  engaged  in  fishing.  More  than  20,000,- 
000  of  cod  are  annually  taken  here  in  small  boats.  This 
whole  region,  too,  is  the  home  of  the  eider-down  ducks, 
which  were  continually  swimming  around  our  vessel,  and 
as  it  is  forbidden  to  harm  them,  they  are  very  tame.  They 
build  their  nests  on  the  rocks,  and  suffer  them  to  be 
robbed  of  their  clown  twice,  and  the  third  time  desert 
them.  They  pluck  the  down  from  the  body,  and  that 
taken  from  a  dead  bird  has  no  value. 

For  many  hours  we  coasted  along  these  remarkable 
islands,  any  one  of  which  would  make  the  fortune  of  an 
American  hotel-keeper.  Occasionally  we  passed  a  neat 
little  village,  and  at  one  place  we  visited  a  curious  old 
church,  which  the  pastor  who  showed  us  around  said 
was  400  years  old.  It  had  some  paintings  of  consider 
able  merit,  brought  from  Holland,  and  some  rare  old 
frescos  on  the  walls.  One  night  a  Lapland  chief  came 
on  board  with  his  daughter,  taking  passage  for  a  town 
a  few  hours  distant.  He  was  said  to  own  2,000  deer, 
which  would  make  him  an  important  man.  He  was 
small,  unclean,  clad  in  deerskins,  and  generally  very 
unattractive,  and  the  daughter  was  like  her  father. 

The  next  important  town  was  Tromso,  with  6,000 
population,  a  really  beautiful  place  on  the  slope  of  a 
hill,  with  many  handsome  houses  and  an  air  of  pros 
perity.  We  stopped  here  a  day,  long  enough  to  examine 
all  of  interest  in  the  town,  and  what  we  cared  for  most, 
to  visit  a  camp  of  Lapps,  four  miles  distant.  It  was  a 
rough,  hard  walk,  especially  for  the  ladies  of  our  party, 


A   SUMMER   IN   NORWAY  167 

up  a  deep  valley,  over  heaps  of  snow,  swift  mountain 
torrents,  quagmires,  and  fallen  trees,  with  a  profusion  of 
wild  flowers  and  ferns  everywhere.  We  reached  the 
camp  at  last,  and  found  about  twenty  Lapps  and  a  hun 
dred  reindeer.  The  Lapps  were  of  all  ages,  dressed  in 
skins,  the  men  and  women  apparently  alike,  so  that  it 
was  difficult  to  distinguish  them,  ancF  all  were  disgust 
ingly  filthy.  They  were  very  diminutive,  yet  larger  than 
I  expected.  The  men  are  inveterate  smokers  and  drink 
ers,  and  the  women,  assimilating  to  their  beloved  hus 
bands,  are  the  same.  I  went  into  their  houses,  which 
were  made  of  poles  covered  with  sods.  There  was  no 
furniture,  dried  venison  was  hung  up  all  around ;  and 
in  the  centre  was  suspended  over  a  fire  a  large  kettle, 
the  smoke,  after  filling  the  hut,  passing  out  of  a  hole  in 
the  top.  The  men,  women,  and  children  sleep  on  the 
ground,  or  on  leaves  and  twigs  of  trees,  and  never  remove 
their  clothing,  their  only  covering  reindeer  skins.  The 
deer  seems  to  supply  all  their  wants.  He  gives  them 
meat,  milk,  clothing,  and  transportation.  A  soup  is 
made  from  his  meat,  and  each  one  dips  his  spoon  of 
wood,  or  deer's  horn,  into  the  boiling  vessel,  and  eats 
till  all  is  gone,  or  his  hunger  is  appeased.  They  seemed 
very  pleasant  —  started  off  the  deer  at  a  furious  speed 
and  then  caught  them  with  lassos  —  milked  them  and 
offered  us  the  milk  to  drink  and  brought  out  skins, 
spoons,  and  deerskin  shoes  to  sell.  I  wanted  to  taste 
the  milk,  and  many  of  the  party  did,  but  the  bowl  was 
too  unclean,  and  my  stomach  revolted.  Some  of  the 
party  fondled  the  children,  but  I  could  not  do  that,  the 
risk  of  vermin  was  too  great.  It  did  not  require  many 
hours  to  satisfy  us  that  we  had  seen  enough,  and  we 


168  BIOGRAPHICAL  AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

left  them.  They  are  a  harmless,  superstitious,  ignorant, 
roving  people,  living  an  animal  existence,  bearing  some 
resemblance  to  the  gypsies,  but  far  less  intelligent,  and 
seemed  to  me  then  and  afterwards  when  I  saw  them,  the 
most  uninteresting  race  I  had  ever  seen. 

We  left  Tromso  in  the  evening,  and  that  night  with  a 
clear  sky  and  unobstructed  horizon  we  saw  the  sun  for 
the  first  time  at  midnight  —  before  on  account  of  hills 
we  had  only  seen  his  reflection.  I  went  to  bed  at  one 
o'clock,  the  sun  shining  in  my  face  with  painful  bril 
liancy  through  the  cabin  window.  The  next  day  at  noon 
we  were  in  Hammerfest,  the  most  northern  town  in  the 
world,  with  a  population  of  2,200.  It  is  situated  under  a 
long  cliff  on  a  bay  well  protected  from  storms,  and,  when 
we  saw  it,  was  full  of  vessels  from  many  nations.  The 
sun  was  shining  bright  as  I  passed  through  the  long 
street  and  it  was  very  warm,  the  children  playing  with 
bare  feet,  and  everything  looked  cheerful  and  every 
body  happy.  When  I  was  a  boy  in  the  country  I  was 
taught  to  make  my  "  manners,"  as  it  was  called,  to 
strangers,  and  though  the  custom  has  passed  away  here 
like  many  other  habits,  with  modern  improvements,  it 
still  exists  away  off  in  Hammerfest,  for  every  boy  made 
his  bow  to  me,  and  every  girl  a  curtesy.  The  great 
trade  of  the  town  is  in  fish,  cod-liver  oil,  and  eider 
down,  and  as  it  was  the  busy  season  the  streets  were 
very  lively.  The  odor  of  cod-liver  oil  filled  the  air,  and 
I  went  into  several  factories  to  see  the  process  of  extrac 
tion,  bought  some  eider  down  as  a  curiosity,  and  then 
went  into  the  fields  to  get  some  wild  flowers,  of  which  I 
found  only  a  few,  looking  lonely  and  sickly  enough.  I 
returned  to  the  town,  and  visited  the  shops  and  ani- 


A   SUMMER   IN   NORWAY  169 

mated  wharves,  and  thought  how  different  must  be  the 
scene  in  winter  when  the  never-ending  day  gives  place 
to  never-ending  night,  spreading  its  gloomy  pall  over 
man  and  nature.  Dr.  Kane  has  depicted  in  vivid  lan 
guage  the  depressing  influence  of  constant  darkness  on 
the  health  and  spirits  of  his  men  and  dogs,  and  the 
familiar  lines  of  Byron  beginning :  "  I  had  a  dream  that 
was  not  all  a  dream,"  etc. 

I  would  not  like  to  spend  a  winter  at  Hammer- 
fest.  It  is  just  to  state,  however,  that  though  the  sun 
is  below  the  horizon  for  ten  weeks  in  winter,  as  for  the 
same  time  it  is  always  visible  in  summer,  there  is  most 
of  the  time  more  or  less  twilight.  The  harbor,  too,  is 
always  open.  The  average  temperature  of  January  is 
23°  Fahrenheit,  and  that  of  July  50°.  This  exemption 
from  extreme  cold  is  due  to  the  influence  of  the  Gulf 
Stream,  conveying  its  heat  thousands  of  miles  from  the 
tropics,  without  which  a  large  part  of  Norway  would  be 
uninhabited. 

It  is  one  hundred  miles  from  Hammerfest  to  the  North 
Cape,  and  for  nearly  the  whole  distance  we  were  in  the 
open  sea,  unprotected  by  the  island  belt,  which  had  made 
our  voyage  so  picturesque  and  agreeable.  On  the  coast  all 
was  desolation  of  desolation,  great  bare  rocks  rising  out  of 
the  water,  not  a  tree  nor  shrub,  —  these  had  all  disappeared 
from  this  far  northern  region.  Not  a  vessel  was  in  sight 

we  were  alone  on  our  voyage  of  curiosity.     The  sea 

soon  became  rough,  and  poor  sailor  as  I  am,  I  succumbed 
to  its  influence  ;  and,  as  all  victims  of  sea-sickness  can 
well  comprehend,  lost  all  my  interest  in  North  Capes, 
midnight  suns,  and  everything  else  in  Norway  and  out 
of  it  but  my  own  miserable  condition.  I  threw  myself 


170  BIOGRAPHICAL    AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

on  a  lounge  in  the  cabin,  with  only  one  small  comfort, 
that  opposite  me  was  stretched  the  Doctor,  for  the  first 
time  in  the  voyage  subdued  and  speechless,  evidently  more 
unhappy  than  myself,  with  no  proposal  for  a  bet  or  pool. 
The  dreary  hours  passed  on,  and  at  last  some  one  came 
down  and  cried,  "  The  North  Cape  —  we  can  see  it ! " 
Not,  however,  till  our  boat  had  rounded  the  cape  and 
come  to  anchor  on  the  east  side  could  I  arouse  myself 
to  go  on  deck  —  and  there  it  was  before  me,  that  great 
mountain  rock,  the  famous  North  Cape  I  had  come  so 
far  to  see.  We  landed  with  difficulty  on  the  rocks,  and 
most  of  the  party  made  the  steep  ascent  to  the  summit,  a 
work  of  great  toil,  and  there  raised  the  flag  of  the  Stars 
and  Stripes  amid  many  cheers. 

The  North  Cape  is  a  great  cliff  rising  in  the  form  of  a 
wedge  nearly  perpendicular  out  of  the  sea  to  a  height  of 
one  thousand  feet.  Longfellow  describes  it  correctly  in 
the  following  lines : 

"  And  then  uprose  before  me, 
Upon  the  water's  edge, 
The  huge  and  haggard  shape 
Of  that  unknown  North  Cape, 
Whose  form  is  like  a  wedge." 

We  were  now  north  of  lat.  71°,  and  a  glance  at  the 
map  will  show  that  we  were  four  degrees  farther  north 
than  any  part  of  Iceland  —  farther  north  than  any  perma 
nent  human  habitation.  Around  us,  north,  east,  and 
west,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  was  the  mighty 
Arctic  Ocean,  whose  mysteries  so  many  have  tried  in 
vain  to  penetrate  in  their  search  for  the  North  Pole, 
dashing  in  great  waves  at  our  feet.  We  reached  there 


A  SUMMER   IN  NORWAY  171 

a  little  before  midnight,  and  watched  the  midnight  sun, 
shining  with  dazzling  brightness,  moving  down  slowly 
to  within  six  or  eight  times  his  diameter  above  the  hori 
zon,  then  seeming  to  rest  a  few  moments  as  if  to  gather 
strength  for  renewed  toil  —  then,  slowly  rising,  the  sun 
set  and  sunrise  had  mingled  in  a  golden  union,  and  a 
new  day  had  commenced  !  Were  I  a  clergyman  I  could 
find  no  better  comparison  of  the  Christian's  death  and 
resurrection  —  a  transition,  without  darkness,  from  one 
golden  state  to  another  !  I  will  not  attempt  to  describe 
the  feelings  of  the  coolest  mind  on  such  a  spot  at  such 
a  time. 

Many  others,  masters  of  the  English  language,  have 
tried  to  do  that.  I  will  only  say,  it  was  an  impressive 
scene,  well  worth  the  long  journey  that  must  be  made 
to  witness  it.  We  were  fortunate  in  being  able  to  land, 
which  cannot  be  done  in  rough  weather,  and  we  were 
more  fortunate  in  having  the  clearest  of  skies  during  the 
whole  time  we  were  in  the  Arctic  Circle,  so  that  we  could 
always  see  the  midnight  sun,  which  many  frequently  wait 
weeks  in  vain  to  see.  One  midnight  I  burned  a  hole 
through  my  hat  by  the  heat  of  the  sun  with  a  little  glass. 
By  a  happy  coincidence  we  reached  the  Cape  a  little  be 
fore  midnight  preceding  the  fourth  of  July,  and  as  the 
day  of  our  great  national  holiday  was  ushered  in,  we  had 
guns  fired,  and  the  steam  engine  gave  a  loud  scream  for 
each  State  in  imitation  of  the  American  eagle  ;  toasts  and 
cheers  were  given  ;  and  at  the  dinner  of  the  day  cham 
pagne  was  served,  speeches  made,  and  we  had  all  that 
belonged  to  a  regular  fourth  of  July  celebration,  and 
none  of  us  had  ever  before  celebrated  the  day  with  so 
much  enthusiasm.  It  certainly  could  never  be  more 


172  BIOGRAPHICAL  AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

impressively  celebrated  than  in  that  strange  situation, 
with  the  midnight  sun  for  our  fireworks,  and  our  music 
the  screaming  of  the  sea  birds  and  the  dashing  of  the 
Arctic  waves  on  the  great  North  Cape. 

I  have  been  surprised  to  find  what  singular  ideas  exist 
as  to  the  midnight  sun.  An  American  professional  gen 
tleman  on  the  steamer  expected,  no  matter  how  far  north 
we  were,  to  see  the  sun  descend  every  night  to  the  hori 
zon,  and  then  begin  to  mount  into  the  heavens,  and  an 
English  lady  of  education  once  asked  me  if  we  could  see 
the  sun  at  midnight,  when  it  rose.  I  need  hardly  ex 
plain  that  the  sun  goes  round  and  round  in  a  low  circle, 
highest  and  in  the  south  at  noon,  and  lowest  and  pre 
cisely  north  at  midnight.  Though  the  sun  shines  the 
whole  twenty-four  hours,  there  is  no  intense  heat,  be 
cause  it  runs  so  low  in  the  heavens. 

From  the  North  Cape  our  steamboat  turned  back,  and 
visited  again  the  same  places  we  had  seen  on  our  journey 
north,  taking  at  each  little  town,  especially  at  the  Lofo- 
den  Islands,  immense  quantities  of  fish  for  southern 
markets.  At  Molde  I  left  the  boat,  as  did  the  Cook's 
excursionists,  who  had  formed  such  a  large  part  of  our 
company  to  the  North  Cape.  Here  I  paid  my  fare,  for 
as  I  was  uncertain  at  first  how  long  I  should  remain  on 
the  boat,  I  was  told  I  could  settle  at  the  end  of  my  jour 
ney.  The  idea  seems  never  to  have  occurred  to  them 
that  I  could  take  my  leave  with  unpaid  bills.  I  stopped 
at  Molde  several  days,  and  made  the  acquaintance  of  a 
Norwegian  physician  who  had  been  ten  years  a  resident 
of  America,  and  was  a  surgeon  in  our  army  during  the 
war,  but  his  love  of  home  had  drawn  him  back. 

It  was  my  object,  now,  to  travel  inland  and  visit  some 


A   SUMMER    IN   NORWAY  173 

of  the  valleys  and  fjords  that  form  such  a  marked  fea 
ture  of  Norway  scenery.  A  few  years  ago  it  was  not 
easy  to  traverse  Norway,  but  now  the  government  roads 
are  the  best  in  the  world,  and  steamboats  with  respect 
able  accommodations  are  running  in  all  its  waters.  The 
government  has  established  a  system  that,  I  think,  exists 
nowhere  else  for  the  convenience  of  travellers.  There 
are  stations  about  ten  miles  apart,  the  keeper  of  which 
is  obliged  to  furnish  a  horse  and  carriole,  at  a  fixed 
tariff,  to  every  traveller,  and  also  to  entertain  him.  A 
book  is  kept  where  the  charge  for  conveyance  is  stated, 
and  each  traveller  records  his  name  and  any  complaint, 
and  these  books  are  inspected  at  regular  intervals  by 
government  officials.  The  carriole  is  the  national  car 
riage,  a  small,  light  vehicle  for  one  person,  very  much 
like  the  gigs  used  by  physicians  when  I  was  a  boy.  The 
horses  are  small  but  hardy  and  active,  and  a  boy  or  girl 
goes  with  the  traveller  to  take  the  horse  back  at  the  end 
of  the  station,  riding  on  the  back  of  the  carriole.  A 
journey  in  this  way  is  very  entertaining  if  one  knows 
enough  of  the  language  to  converse  with  the  boy. 

The  whole  coast  of  Norway  is  indented  with  fjords, 
a  name  here  given  to  inlets  from  the  ocean,  extending  a 
great  distance  inland,  throwing  out  arms  in  every  direc 
tion,  and  bounded  by  the  most  remarkable  cliffs.  At 
the  end  of  each  fjord  is  a  deep  valley,  bounded  by  simi 
lar  cliffs,  and  running  to  the  top  of  the  mountain  range 
that  forms  the  backbone  of  Norway.  I  went  for  miles 
through  some  fjords  where  the  rocks  rose  up,  almost  per 
pendicular,  four  thousand  feet,  and,  strange  to  say, 
houses  have  been  built  two  thousand  feet  high  on  some 
of  these  cliffs,  and  there  the  fishermen  live,  descending 


174  BIOGRAPHICAL    AND   OTHER    ARTICLES 

by  a  zigzag  path  to  the  water  to  fish.  Not  a  safe  home, 
we  should  think,  for  children  to  play,  or  a  somnambulist 
to  walk.  The  Hardanger  and  Sogne  fjords  extend  a 
hundred  miles  into  the  country,  and  present  the  most 
varied  scenery.  Wherever  a  valley  connects  with  the 
fjord  is  usually  a  little  village,  its  church  and  sharp- 
pointed  spire  reminding  me  of  our  New  England  coun 
try  churches.  Little  islands  are  scattered  everywhere 
through  the  fjords,  and  waterfalls  and  cascades,  dashing 
over  the  cliffs  and  down  the  hills,  are  ever  in  view. 

Taking  a  steamboat  from  Molde,  I  went  up  a  fjord  to 
a  place  called  Vaeblungsnaes,  and  then  walked  about 
five  miles  to  Aak  hotel,  where  I  remained  a  week.  This 
was,  probably,  in  1879,  the  best  known  hotel  in  Norway. 
It  was  a  large  log  house,  with  a  birch-bark  roof  covered 
with  sods,  a  roof  common  in  western  Norway,  and  very 
durable.  All  the  furniture  was  of  the  most  primitive 
sort,  yet  it  had  the  advantage  of  most  of  the  hotels  of  the 
country  in  being  able  to  give  each  guest  a  separate  room, 
though  small.  Generally  in  the  country  hotels  of  Nor 
way  the  rooms  are  large,  and  a  dozen  beds  may  be  placed 
in  one  chamber,  and  one  chamber  is  often  made  a  pas 
sageway  to  another,  without  a  thought  that  any  one  can 
object  to  such  an  arrangement.  It  interested  me  much 
while  at  this  hotel  to  study  the  peculiarities  of  the  differ 
ent  travellers,  as  they  came  from  many  different  nation 
alities.  There  were  a  few  Americans,  but  most  were 
Englishmen,  clergymen  on  a  vacation  tour,  and  sports 
men,  visiting  Norway  to  hunt  and  fish,  paying  a  fixed 
sum  for  the  right  to  fish  in  a  stream  between  certain 
points.  In  these  bargains  it  seemed  to  me,  from  what  I 
heard,  the  Norwegians  had  very  much  the  best  of  the 


A   SUMMER   IN   NORWAY  175 

trade.  One  English  gentleman  told  me  he  had  paid  six 
hundred  dollars  for  a  fish  right,  and  had  not  caught  a 
fish,  and  he  was  going  home  in  deep  disgust.  Another 
told  me  he  had  paid  fifteen  hundred  dollars,  and  had 
caught  three  salmon. 

Among  other  guests  at  the  hotel  were  a  young  Eng 
lishman  and  his  bride,  whom  I  had  occasion  to  meet  at 
several  different  times.  They  were  not  specially  inter 
esting,  nor  did  they  seem  so  demonstrative  as  most  young 
married  people,  probably  because  they  had  more  control 
of  their  feelings,  but  I  remember  them  mainly  because 
they  were  always  getting  into  difficulty,  and  they  seemed 
to  take  it  all  as  a  matter  of  course.  They  could  not 
speak  a  word  of  the  language,  and  when  they  wanted  to 
go  one  way  were  pretty  sure  to  be  started  the  other. 
Once  they  intended  to  take  a  steamboat  south  from 
Bergen,  and  found  when  out  of  the  harbor  that  they 
were  bound  north.  Once  as  we  were  about  to  start  on 
?,  steamboat  the  gentleman  told  me  that  he  had  left  his 
valise  with  his  money  at  the  hotel.  With  my  little 
Norwegian  I  induced  the  captain  to  wait  for  him  to  get 
it,  and  advised  him  in  future  to  take  his  money  from  his 
valise  and  give  it  to  his  wife,  as  women  always  know 
what  to  do  with  it,  —  advice  which,  I  know,  all  ladies  will 
regard  as  very  sage.  One  day  they  heard  a  boat  was  to 
start  at  eleven  o'clock,  and  were  on  the  wharf  in  the  morn 
ing,  and  waited  till  the  boat  started,  which  happened  to  be 
eleven  o'clock  at  night.  I  am  sure  they  were  made  wiser 
by  their  Norwegian  experience,  better  fitted  to  bear  to 
gether  the  little  trials  of  life,  which  fall  to  the  lot  of  all. 
The  Aak  hotel  is  at  the  entrance  to  the  Romsdal,  the 
grandest  valley  in  Norway.  It  is  nearly  30  miles  long, 


176  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER   ARTICLES 

and  for  20  miles  is  hemmed  in  by  cliffs  from  3,000  to 
6,000  feet  high.  On  one  side  there  is  no  path  out  of  the 
valley,  and  on  the  other  only  two  places  where  a  footman 
can  climb  up.  The  valley  is  in  some  places  nearly  a  mile 
wide,  and  through  it  runs  a  stream  forming  a  succession 
of  waterfalls.  At  one  place  the  valley  is  contracted  to  a 
narrow  pass  by  two  mountains,  one  5,000  feet  high,  and  the 
other  nearly  6,000  feet,  forming  one  of  the  wildest  gorges 
I  have  ever  seen.  Over  the  cliffs  were  pouring  water 
falls,  thousands  of  feet  high,  and  I  counted  in  some 
places  a  dozen  at  a  time.  I  walked  through  this  valley 
and  back,  going  about  ten  miles  a  day,  and  stopping  at 
the  little  Norwegian  hotels,  and  rarely  have  I  enjoyed  an 
excursion  so  much. 

Leaving  Aak  hotel,  I  took  a  boat  for  Vestnaes,  and 
then  crossed  a  mountainous  peninsula  to  Soholt,  a  beauti 
ful  town,  distinguished  for  its  salmon  and  herring  fish 
eries,  and  for  an  iron  mine.  I  met  here  a  highly  cultivated 
gentleman  from  Christiania,  a  nobleman  in  the  day  of 
titles,  who  expressed  a  very  poor  opinion  of  many  of  the 
English  tourists,  and  complained  that  by  their  money 
and  habits  they  had  demoralized  his  countrymen.  He  did 
not  speak  of  the  Americans,  probably  knowing  my  own 
nationality. 

My  object  now  was  to  visit  the  Geiranger  Fjord,  the 
finest  in  Norway.  We  passed  up  the  Stor  Fjord,  every  mo 
ment  giving  us  picturesque  views  of  mountains,  cliffs, 
waterfalls,  with  little  villages  and  a  church  scattered  here 
and  there.  I  spent  the  night  on  the  boat  at  Hellesylt, 
where  a  deep  valley  runs  down  to  the  water,  and  early  the 
next  morning  the  boat  entered  the  Geiranger  Fjord.  I  can 
find  no  language  fitly  to  describe  it.  Imagine  a  river 


A    SUMMER   IN   NORWAY  177 

half  a  mile  wide,  hemmed  in  by  cliffs  4,000  or  5,000  feet 
high,  nearly  perpendicular,  over  which  waterfalls  are 
pouring,  little  houses  perched  high  up  on  the  rocks, 
pinnacles  of  strange  shapes  rising  above  the  cliffs,  and 
deep  gorges  running  through  them,  the  whole  scene  dark 
and  gloomy,  because  the  rays  of  the  sun  cannot  pene 
trate.  The  captain  sounded  the  steam  whistle,  and  it 
was  echoed  and  re-echoed  along  the  cliffs  till  it  died  away 
in  the  distance.  I  know  not  where  except  in  Norway 
such  a  scene  can  be  witnessed. 

I  returned  through  the  same  fjord  to  Aalesund,  of  which 
I  have  already  spoken.  It  was  full  of  vessels  after  fish,  and 
a  large  English  yacht  was  in  the  harbor,  its  inmates  expect 
ing,  English-like,  to  see  all  the  wonders  of  Norway  in 
about  a  week.  I  visited  some  shops  where  old  Norwegian 
silver  was  for  sale,  and  saw  some  fine  old  silver  goblets, 
covered  with  exquisite  carving,  indicating  the  wealth  of 
its  owners  years  ago.  I  found  the  boat  for  Bergen 
crowded,  for  there  had  been  a  large  gathering  at  Thrond- 
heim,  and  the  people  were  homeward  bound.  Not  one 
English-speaking  traveller  was  on  board  except  myself, 
most  of  the  passengers  being  Norwegians  or  Germans. 
The  captain  gave  me  a  bed  in  the  cabin,  which  was  more 
than  he  had  promised,  and  I  passed  the  night  very  com 
fortably.  Though  the  boat  was  full,  there  was  no  noise, 
no  rudeness,  no  card-playing,  such  as  we  too  often  see  on 
American  boats,  especially  on  our  Western  rivers.  It 
rained  most  of  the  time,  so  that  many  of  the  fine  views 
I  had  so  enjoyed  on  my  upward  journey  were  lost  to  me. 
It  was  a  bright  sunshine,  however,  when  I  reached  pict 
uresque  Bergen  for  the  second  time,  and  I  was  most 
fortunate  in  my  visit,  for  the  king  was  expected  that  day, 


178  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER    ARTICLES 

and  a  grand  celebration  was  preparing  for  him.  No  king 
of  Norway  had  been  in  Bergen  for  200  years,  and  I  have 
never  seen  so  much  enthusiasm  displayed,  nor  so  many 
flags  from  the  houses.  I  had  a  front  window  on  the  main 
street,  and  as  he  drove  past,  his  carriage  was  literally 
filled  with  flowers.  He  seemed  much  affected  by  the 
warmth  of  his  people,  and  said :  "  Bergen  could  move  a 
heart  of  stone."  He  is  a  fine-looking  man,  the  grand 
son  of  Bernadotte,  the  handsomest  king  I  have  seen  in 
Europe,  and  I  have  seen  most  of  them.  He  had  with 
him  two  of  his  four  sons,  fine-looking  boys.  Thousands 
of  peasants  had  come  in  from  all  the  country  around,  and 
I  had  an  opportunity  I  could  have  had  at  no  other  time 
to  see  their  peculiar  costumes.  I  wish  I  could  properly 
describe  the  dresses  of  the  peasant  women,  but,  unfor 
tunately,  it  is  a  subject  I  am  poorly  prepared  to  discuss. 
They  wore  caps,  white  or  black,  fitting  close  to  the  head 
and  covering  the  ears,  —  woollen  homespun  dresses,  black 
or  green,  short  and  elaborately  plaited  at  the  waist  and 
down  the  skirt,  and  open  at  the  breast  to  display  a  finely 
wrought  linen  bosom,  much  ornamented  with  jewelry,  as 
was  the  neck.  Many  of  the  costumes  were  striking  and 
attractive,  full  of  bright  colors  and  worsted  embroidery, 
the  work  evidently  of  their  own  hands,  and  the  jewelry 
had  been  heirlooms  in  the  families  for  centuries.  The 
whole  city  was  given  up  to  festivities  during  the  presence 
of  the  king,  many  entertainments  were  prepared  in  his 
honor,  the  streets  were  full,  and  the  king  made  himself 
very  familiar,  willing  to  see  everything.  A  ball  was 
given  to  him  Sunday  night,  and  fireworks  were  displayed, 
which  I  did  not  see,  for  I  waited  for  the  darkness  till 
after  eleven  o'clock,  and  then  was  tired  and  went  home. 


A   SUMMER   IK  NORWAY  179 

Bergen  will  long  remember  that  visit  of  the  king,  and 
one  American  certainly  will  long  remember  it,  and  will 
remember  Bergen,  too,  as  one  of  the  most  fascinating 
cities  the  world  contains.  I  might  add  that  as  I  was 
walking  one  day  a  little  out  of  Bergen  alone,  the  king 
came  along,  and  was  not  too  proud  to  bow  to  me,  and  I 
was  not  too  proud  to  take  off  my  hat,  and  make  my  very 
best  bow  to  him. 

I  took  a  boat  at  Bergen  for  the  Hardanger  Fjord,  the 
largest  fjord  of  Norway,  and  one  of  the  most  celebrated 
for  its  varied  beauty  and  grandeur.  Like  all  the  fjords, 
it  is  enclosed  by  mountains,  with  waterfalls,  glaciers, 
smiling  villages,  and  all  that  can  make  scenery  attrac 
tive.  One  could  pleasantly  pass  a  whole  summer  at  its 
many  places  of  interest.  I  stopped  longest  at  Odde,  at 
a  little  hotel  kept  by  a  Norwegian  and  his  sister,  who 
had  both  lived  in  America.  It  is  at  the  end  of  the 
fjord,  at  the  entrance  of  a  valley,  enclosed  by  mountains, 
with  a  great  glacier  in  full  view.  Wishing  to  see  one  of 
the  most  celebrated  waterfalls  in  Norway,  I  made  an 
excursion  with  a  few  others  to  the  Skjaeggedals,  re 
garded  by  many  as  the  grandest  in  the  country. 

It  is  a  hard  journey,  and  few  ladies  have  the  strength 
to  undertake  it.  We  went  an  hour  over  the  fjord  in  a 
boat,  then  walked  two  hours  over  the  wildest  mountain 
path  I  have  ever  trod,  yet  affording  the  grandest  views. 
We  then  reached  a  little  lake  that  we  crossed  in  a  boat, 
and  after  a  walk  of  twenty  minutes  reached  a  second 
lake,  a  cascade  connecting  the  two.  This  second  lake  is 
five  miles  long  and  about  two  wide,  is  1,600  feet  above 
the  sea,  and  hemmed  in  by  cliffs  from  1,000  to  2,000  high, 
nearly  perpendicular  on  every  side  except  the  outlet. 


180  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER   ARTICLES 

Taking  a  boat  and  passing  several  smaller  falls,  we 
reached  at  the  extreme  end  the  great  fall,  made  by  a 
river  dashing  over  the  cliff  into  the  lake  nearly 
a  thousand  feet  below.  All  around  the  scenery  was  of 
the  wildest  nature  —  not  a  human  habitation  for  miles 
—  not  even  a  fish  lives  in  the  cold  clear  water,  and  I 
have  rarely  been  so  much  impressed  as  by  this  great 
waterfall  and  remarkable  lake,  so  difficult  of  access  and 
almost  unknown.  Place  them  where  they  could  be 
easily  visited,  and  they  would  be  regarded  as  among 
the  wonders  of  the  world,  and  poets  would  work  them 
selves  into  a  frenzy  in  singing  their  praise. 

The  great  glacier  near  Odde  is  forty  miles  long  and 
fifteen  miles  wide,  coming  down  close  to  the  fjord,  the 
flowers  springing  up  by  its  side.  I  took  a  long  walk  one 
day  to  a  lake  at  the  foot  of  this  glacier,  and  while  there 
watched  a  woman  bringing  down  in  her  arms  large 
bundles  of  hay,  which  she  had  cut  from  a  fertile  spot  on 
the  mountain.  She  placed  it  in  a  large  boat  till  the 
boat  could  hold  no  more,  then  rowed  over  the  lake 
several  miles  to  her  home.  Another  woman  was  making 
hay  with  a  babe  in  her  arms.  One  of  the  saddest  sights 
to  an  American  in  Europe  is  the  hard  lot  of  the  women, 
and  no  American  woman  can  see  the  condition  of  her 
sex  over  the  Atlantic  without  thanking  her  Maker  that 
she  was  born  in  our  favored  land.  Some  people  have 
said  —  I  have  no  opinion  of  my  own  —  in  our  country 
the  men  were  made  for  the  women.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  in  the  Old  World  the  women  were  made  for 
the  men  —  theirs  are  the  hardest  toil,  the  most  sacrifices, 
the  smallest  recompense.  I  have  seen  women  doing  the 
most  menial  work  —  making  roads,  digging  canals,  drag- 


A   SUMMER   IN   NORWAY  181 

ging  along  canal  boats  by  the  side  of  horses,  at  work  in 
barn-yards,  etc.,  etc.,  —  an  unknown  sight,  I  am  proud 
to  say,  in  America. 

Taking  a  boat  from  Odde  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morn 
ing,  I  touched  at  many  beautiful  villages  till  I  came  to 
Eide,  when  I  left  the  boat,  and  passing  over  a  high  ridge 
of  land  by  a  magnificent  zigzag  road,  crossing  repeatedly 
a  river  descending  with  many  cascades,  I  at  last  entered 
the  Vossevangen  Valley,  one  of  the  most  fertile  and  best 
known  in  Norway.  Its  excellent  hotel,  where  the  king 
had  stopped  a  few  days  before,  was  kept  by  a  man  who 
had  lived  years  in  America,  and  was  a  place  of  great 
resort.  The  church  here  is  six  hundred  years  old,  with 
a  round  Norman  arch  doorway,  and  has  a  Bible  printed 
in  1589.  At  Vossevangen  I  saw  one  of  the  bridal 
gowns  of  the  peasants,  with  a  dazzling  gilt  crown  for 
the  head,  all  prepared  with  much  labor.  The  gown  is 
used  for  a  village  and  for  many  years,  a  custom  that  will 
never  find  favor  with  American  brides. 

I  moved  on,  partly  on  foot,  partly  by  carriole,  over  a 
romantic  road,  with  fine  views  of  mountains  and  valleys, 
lakes  and  waterfalls.  Some  of  the  little  hotels  where  I 
stopped  were  very  plain,  but  the  people  were  every 
where  kind  and  honest.  At  one  place  they  could  only 
give  me  for  dinner  a  bottle  of  Norwegian  beer  and  some 
hard  dry  bread,  called  flad-brod,  of  peculiar  manufacture, 
and  which  will  keep  a  year.  The  old  landlord  wanted 
to  know  where  I  came  from,  and  when  I  told  him  from 
America,  he  repeated  with  amazement,  "  Fra  America  !  " 
as  if  it  was  a  thing  hardly  to  be  credited  that  one  should 
visit  Norway  from  so  distant  a  land.  But  he  had  friends 
in  America,  and  he  called  his  old  wife  to  tell  her  about 


182  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER   ARTICLES 

it.  He  had  solid  silver  buttons  on  his  jacket,  and  as  he 
saw  they  attracted  my  attention,  he  said  they  had  been 
two  hundred  years  in  the  family.  He  took  me  to  the 
top  of  a  hill,  and  pointing  to  the  great  gorge  towards 
Gudvangen,  said  it  was  one  of  the  grandest  views  in 
Norway,  and  he  was  right.  Leaving  him,  I  descended 
by  zigzags  cut  with  immense  labor,  a  precipitous  slope 
between  two  superb  waterfalls,  into  a  deep  valley, 
bounded  by  lofty  and  imposing  mountains,  thousands  of 
feet  high,  contracting  in  some  places  so  as  to  leave  only 
room  for  the  road  and  the  river,  and  so  it  continued  to 
Gudvangen,  seven  miles.  It  is  called  Naerodal.  A 
storm  came  up  while  I  was  traversing  it  alone  and  on 
foot,  so  that  its  gloomy  depths  seemed  almost  terrible,  a 
fit  home  for  the  most  horrible  creations  of  ancient  myth 
ology. 

Gudvangen,  the  end  of  this  wild  valley,  is  a  village 
with  only  six  houses,  and  lies  so  deep  in  the  gorge 
that  in  winter  not  a  ray  of  sunshine  can  reach  it. 
Several  waterfalls  are  near  it,  one  twice  as  high  as  the 
famous  Staubach  of  Switzerland,  and  much  grander. 
The  Naerofjord,  which  here  begins,  is  a  continuation  of 
the  dark  valley,  with  the  same  narrow  passage  between 
high  cliffs,  the  same  fine  views  of  mountains  and  water 
falls,  quite  like  the  Geiranger  Fjord  of  which  I  have 
spoken,  and  by  some  claimed  to  be  its  equal,  if  not  its 
superior,  in  grandeur. 

I  was  now  on  the  Sogne  Fjord,  rivalling  the  Hardanger 
Fjord  in  its  objects  of  interest.  Touching  at  many 
places,  I  at  last  reached  Laerdalsoren,  the  most  inland 
town  of  the  fjord,  and  leaving  the  steamboat  I  turned 
my  face  towards  Christiania.  My  course  was  up  a  long 


A   SUMMER   IN   NOB  WAY  183 

valley,  by  the  side  of  a  river  springing  from  the  top  of 
the  mountain  range  that  runs  the  whole  length  of 
Norway,  and  continually  enlarged  by  streams  from  the 
lateral  valleys.  I  went  about  ten  miles  a  day,  nearly 
the  whole  distance  on  foot,  having  sent  my  baggage 
before  me,  stopping  a  day,  sometimes  several  days,  at 
each  hotel,  examining  at  my  leisure  everything  on  the 
way,  talking  with  the  people,  and  trying  to  learn  all  I 
could  of  their  condition,  manner  of  life,  etc.,  etc.  At 
the  hotel  where  I  stopped  the  first  night  the  only  other 
guests  were  a  professor  from  Christiania  on  a  pedestrian 
tour  with  his  two  sons  as  a  reward  for  diligence  at 
school.  They  were  the  only  pedestrians  I  saw  for 
pleasure,  which  struck  me  with  surprise ;  for  I  have 
been  in  no  other  country  where  the  invigorating  air 
makes  walking  so  easy  and  healthful.  As  they  rose 
from  the  dinner  table  the  sons  shook  their  father  by  the 
hand  to  express  their  gratitude  for  the  meal,  after  the 
universal  custom  of  Norway.  The  national  method  of 
expressing  thanks  is  by  hand-shaking,  and  it  was  some 
times  very  amusing  to  see  a  little  carriole  boy  offer  his 
unclean  hand  to  a  nicely-gloved  lady  when  at  parting 
she  gave  him  a  small  gratuity.  The  second  day  I  visited 
the  Borgund  Church,  the  oldest  in  Norway,  built  400 
years  before  Columbus  discovered  America;  a  quaint 
little  building,  full  of  gables,  somewhat  resembling  a 
Chinese  pagoda.  When  I  started  the  third  day  I  was 
twenty-one  miles  from  the  summit  of  the  mountain,  over 
which  my  path  lay,  and  intended  to  stop  at  Maristuen, 
ten  miles  distant.  The  hotels,  however,  in  the  country, 
rarely  have  any  signs,  nor  anything  else,  in  fact,  to  indi 
cate  their  character,  for  everybody  is  supposed  to  know 


184  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

everybody  for  a  hundred  miles  in  that  thinly -peopled 
region;  and  before  I  thought  I  could  have  walked  ten 
miles  I  had  passed  the  little  hotel  unobserved,  and  was 
high  up  the  mountain.  The  trees  had  disappeared,  and 
houses  and  snow-capped  peaks  were  overhanging  me. 
I  wandered  on,  and  on,  evidently  near  the  summit,  and 
wondering  where  the  hotel  was,  and  at  last  came  to 
some  saeters,  as  the  rude  mountain  stone  huts  are  called, 
where  were  many  cows  in  charge  of  some  women  and 
children,  driven  there  for  pasturage,  as  is  the  custom  in 
Norway  in  summer,  so  hard  is  it  to  find  food  for  them 
in  the  valleys.  I  asked  the  women  how  far  it  was  to 
Hotel  Maristuen,  and  they  began  to  laugh,  and  pointed 
back.  It  was  late,  and  I  was  tired,  and  asked  them 
where  I  could  get  something  to  eat,  and  spend  the  night. 
They  said  they  could  give  me  nothing  but  milk,  and 
that  I  must  go  to  the  top  of  the  mountain.  I  walked 
on,  and  in  about  an  hour  reached  Nystuen,  4,000  feet 
high,  on  the  summit  of  the  Fille  Fjeld  Pass,  having 
walked  twenty-one  miles  with  but  little  fatigue  in  that 
bracing  air.  There  was  a  large  lake  near  the  hotel,  and 
wild  flowers  were  growing  around,  but  mountains  pre 
vented  distant  views.  I  descended  rapidly  the  next 
day,  and  found  the  country  and  houses  were  better,  and 
the  hotel  where  I  rested  for  the  night  was  very  comfort 
able.  They  were  making  hay  on  the  large  farm  belong 
ing  to  the  landlord ;  and  when  I  went  to  bed  at  nine 
o'clock  I  saw  from  my  window  many  women  and  a  few 
men  hard  at  work,  and  when  I  awoke  at  four  they  had 
commenced  again  the  labor  of  the  day.  No  one  talks 
about  eight  hours  a  day  in  Norway.  The  following  day 
I  dined  with  a  landlord  who  was  a  member  of  Parlia- 


A   SUMMER   Itf  NORWAY  185 

ment,  and  of  whom  I  bought  some  silver  jewelry  200 
years  old.  For  two  weeks  I  went  on  in  this  manner, 
through  the  most  enchanting  scenery,  along  lovely  lakes, 
through  fine  groves  of  pine,  spruce,  fir,  and  birch  trees, 
lingering  here  and  there  to  enjoy  a  fine  prospect,  regret 
ting  every  step  that  I  left  behind  me,  and  only  wishing 
my  friends  could  be  with  me  to  share  my  pleasure.  One 
day,  in  the  finest  part  of  a  long  lake,  I  met  a  double 
carriage  with  four  English  travellers,  and  had  quite  a 
chat  with  them.  They  were  making  a  tour  in  Norway, 
and  were  having  a  nice  game  of  whist,  as  the  carriage 
moved  along  amid  this  lovely  scenery,  to  relieve  the 
monotony  of  travel.  Not  all  English  travellers  are 
intelligent.  Some  months  later  I  met  in  Italy  an  Eng 
lish  gentleman  and  his  wife,  who  had  been  travelling  a 
year  for  their  mutual  improvement,  and  asked  them 
where  they  had  been.  With  some  difficulty  the  gentle 
man  got  as  far  as  Berlin,  and  then  turned  to  his  wife, 
after  a  pause,  and  said  :  "  My  dear,  where  did  we  go  to 
from  Berlin?" 

I  ought  to  add,  in  justice  to  the  truth,  that  of  the 
thousands  of  Americans  let  loose  on  Europe  annually, 
many  are  not  more  intelligent  than  the  English.  In  my 
last  visit  to  London  an  American  asked  me  to  tell  him 
who  that  Wellington  was  whose  statue  met  him  every 
where  ;  and  some  years  ago  I  found  by  my  side  in  the 
speaker's  gallery  of  the  House  of  Commons  an  American 
who  wished  to  know  who  was  at  the  head  of  the  British 
Government.  His  finger-nails  were  of  the  color  of  ink, 
and  his  soft  hat  had  evidently  seen  years  of  service.  He 
told  me  he  was  on  his  way  as  consul  to  represent  us  at 
one  of  the  most  cultivated  cities  of  Switzerland.  An 


186  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER   ARTICLES 

Italian  gentleman  in  Rome  told  me  of  the  American 
who  was  trying  to  find  the  studio  of  Michael  Angelo. 
He  had  heard  a  great  deal  about  the  gentleman,  and 
wanted  to  see  him. 

So  few  people  make  tours  on  foot  in  Norway  that  I 
found  I  had  become  very  well  known  all  along  the  road. 
It  is  a  custom  to  place  benches  where  fine  views  can  be 
had,  and  I  was  seated  on  one  of  these  one  day  when  a 
gentleman  in  a  carriage  stopped  his  horse,  and  asked : 
"  You  are  an  American,  and  came  from  Laerdalsoren  ?  " 
I  answered,  "Yes."  "You  are  bound  for  Christiania ? " 
I  replied,  "Yes."  "You  are  travelling  on  foot?"  I 
said,  "Yes,"  and  I  learned  that  other  people  besides 
Yankees  asked  questions. 

After  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  on  foot  I  took  a 
steamboat  for  thirty-five  miles  over  the  long,  narrow 
Lake  Spirillen,  bounded  on  both  sides  by  thick  forests. 
At  Keen  I  had  my  first  experience  of  a  Norwegian  rail 
road.  The  first-class  car  in  which  I  journeyed  was  a 
little  room,  nearly  square,  with  a  table  in  the  centre, 
and  seats  all  around,  so  that  one  could  move  about  as  in 
a  parlor,  and  it  was  really  very  comfortable.  There  were 
but  few  people  in  the  car,  for  in  Europe  nearly  all  jour 
ney  third  class.  At  Honefos  is  a  fine  waterfall,  and  the 
town  contains  a  thousand  inhabitants,  the  largest  place 
I  had  seen  since  I  left  Bergen.  Here  I  left  the  railroad, 
and  went  on  foot  through  a  great  forest,  —  ascended  a 
rocky  mountain,  Kroghleven,  for  a  superb  view,  called 
one  of  the  finest  in  Norway,  —  then  continued  over  a 
most  interesting  road,  with  mountains  on  one  side  and 
the  Tyri  Fjord  on  the  other,  to  Sandviken,  where  I 
again  took  a  railroad ;  and  passing  villages,  and  hand- 


A   SUMMER   IN   NORWAY  187 

some  country  houses,  along  the  shore  of  the  Christiania 
Fjord,  was  soon  at  Christiania,  the  capital  of  Norway, 
md  largest  city,  finely  built,  with  handsome  palaces, 
museums,  etc.,  etc.,  but  which  I  do  not  propose  now  to 
lescribe.  I  was  sorry  when  I  reached  the  city,  for  it 
was  to  be  the  last  city  I  should  visit  in  Norway,  and 
[  never  expected  again  to  find  such  enjoyment  in  travel 
is  I  had  received  the  whole  summer  in  this  most  north- 
3rn  country  of  Europe.  I  had  travelled  on  foot  three 
lundred  and  fifty  miles,  and  had  become  a  stronger, 
tviser,  and  better  man. 

I  should  have  passed  a  poor  examination  on  Norway 
jefore  I  went  there,  for  my  knowledge  of  it  was  very 
fague.  My  early  impressions  of  it  when  a  boy  at  school 
ivere  from  a  picture  in  Peter  Parley's  Geography,  repre 
senting  a  Norwegian  dressed  in  skins,  killing  a  bear  with 
i  knife.  Both  man  and  bear  were  erect,  facing  each 
)ther,  and  it  was  not  easy  to  tell  which  looked  the  most 
savage.  I  naturally  inferred  that  all  the  Norwegians 
;vore  skins,  and  that  killing  bears  was  their  daily  occu 
pation.  My  summer  spent  in  the  country  gave  me  a 
pery  different  impression  of  them.  They  are  plain  in 
Iress,  independent  in  manner  and  speech,  disregarding 
nany  of  the  courtesies  of  other  nations  ;  but  I  have 
lever  seen  a  kinder,  more  honest,  or  more  obliging 
people.  Education  is  compulsory,  and  all  can  read  and 
tvrite.  In  the  back  districts,  where  the  children  are  too 
kr  separated  to  be  collected  in  schools,  the  masters  go 
;o  their  homes  to  instruct  them.  No  nation  in  the  world 
s  more  free.  They  have  a  king,  but  his  power  is 
lominal,  as  laws  can  be  passed  over  his  veto,  and  there 
ire  no  rich  corporations  to  control  legislation,  as  with 


188  BIOGRAPHICAL  AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

us.  Hereditary  titles  were  abolished  years  ago.  I  know 
of  no  country  where  such  uniformity  in  religion  prevails. 
Nine  adults  in  ten  are  members  of  the  Lutheran  church, 
and  the  societies  of  other  denominations  are  very  small, 
and  confined  to  the  cities.  It  is  the  only  country  I  ever 
travelled  in  where  people  do  not  lock  their  doors.  I  do 
not  believe  there  is  a  civilized  country  in  the  world 
where  life  and  property  are  more  secure.  I  trust  Eng 
lish  and  American  travellers  will  not  corrupt  them.  They 
leave  money  and  valuable  articles  anywhere  with  no 
fear  of  losing  them.  They  regard  everybody  as  honest, 
and  have  no  suspicion  of  fraud.  I  had  a  draft  on  Lon 
don,  for  which  I  wished  the  money,  and  it  was  cashed  at 
once  at  a  Bergen  bank,  stranger  as  I  was,  with  not  a  ques 
tion  as  to  identity.  I  went  into  a  store  at  Bergen  with  an 
American  gentleman  and  lady  to  look  at  some  old  Nor 
wegian  silver,  and  the  shopkeeper  told  us  if  we  had  not 
the  money  with  us  we  could  give  our  checks.  Were  a 
man  in  America  to  begin  to  sell  goods  to  strangers  for 
checks  his  friends  would  start  him  at  once  for  an  insane 
asylum,  with  the  deepest  anxiety  as  to  his  ultimate 
recovery.  At  restaurants  in  Norway  and  Sweden  guests 
are  often  allowed  to  eat  what  they  please  and  report 
to  the  cashier  for  payment.  Would  such  a  restaurant  be 
a  success  in  America  ? 

The  people  are  generally  poor,  and  must  always  remain 
so,  for  only  one  acre  of  land  in  one  hundred  and  twenty  can 
be  cultivated ;  much  of  their  flour  and  meat  is  from  Amer 
ica,  and  but  for  the  fisheries  nearly  the  whole  western  coast 
would  be  depopulated.  Most  of  the  common  people 
wear  homespun  clothes,  and  as  you  go  through  the 
country  you  can  still  hear  the  music  of  the  loom  and 


A   SUMMER   IN  NORWAY  189 

spinning-wheel,  the  only  instruments  our  grandmothers 
played  upon,  but  of  which  the  daughters  know  so  little. 
They  have  a  genuine  politeness.  I  never  met  a  man  or 
boy  in  the  country  that  he  did  not  take  off  his  hat  and 
say  god-dag  —  good-day.  The  men  are  generally  finely 
developed  and  good  looking.  I  saw  no  beauty  among 
the  women.  It  may  be  my  home  in  America  has  made 
me  too  critical  to  appreciate  beauty  abroad.  They  pay 
their  doctors  by  the  year,  and  soon  get  well.  I  have 
never  seen  a  more  contented  people.  Living  lives  of 
extreme  toil,  in  log  houses,  tilling  a  barren  soil,  deprived 
of  nearly  all  the  fruits  and  other  luxuries  of  a  more 
southern  clime,  their  whole  struggle,  not  to  become  rich, 
but  simply  to  exist,  on  the  plainest  fare,  and  with  the 
simplest  clothing,  they  love  their  homes  with  the  deepest 
affection.  I  saw  many  who  had  lived  in  America  for 
years,  and  they  told  me  how  much  better  off  they  were 
there,  but  they  said  the  yearning  for  yamle  Norge,  —  old 
Norway,  —  as  they  always  call  it,  had  been  too  strong  to 
resist,  and  they  had  come  back  to  the  home  of  their 
fathers  to  die. 

The  exports  of  the  country  show  its  poverty,  and  also 
its  industry.  Fish,  lumber,  and  ice  are  nearly  all,  yet, 
with  these  products,  the  commercial  fleet  of  Norway, 
having  a  population  of  less  than  two  millions,  is  next  to 
those  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States.  It  is 
sparsely  settled,  its  122,752  square  miles  averaging  but 
fifteen  persons  to  the  square  mile.  Sometimes  I  jour 
neyed  many  miles  without  seeing  a  house,  and  the  still 
ness  of  the  forests  was  oppressive.  On  the  long  country 
roads  I  found  everybody  knew  everybody  for  a  hundred 
miles.  I  noticed  but  few  birds,  more  frequently  the  chat- 


190  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

tering  magpie  and  noisy  brown  crows,  screaming  when 
disturbed,  as  if  to  complain  that  any  one  should  encroach 
on  their  homes. 

I  remained  in  Norway  till  September,  and  left  it  with 
regret  and  with  deep  respect  for  its  honest,  industrious 
people,  wishing  Heaven  had  granted  them  a  milder  cli 
mate  and  a  more  favored  soil.  But  it  may  be  their  very 
hardships  have  made  them  better.  The  influence  of 
country,  however,  on  national  character  I  shall  leave  to 
others  to  discuss. 

From  Norway  I  visited  Sweden,  Denmark,  Germany, 
and  Austria,  and  the  following  spring  and  summer  was 
in  Italy,  the  land  of  poetry,  music,  and  art,  where  ruins 
of  the  mighty  past  meet  you  at  every  step,  and  the 
fragrance  of  orange  blossoms  fills  the  air  —  where  every 
sense  and  every  passion  finds  enjoyment,  and  one  lingers 
and  lingers,  so  reluctant  %to  depart  —  on  many  accounts 
more  interesting  than  Norway,  and  in  all  respects  so  dif 
ferent.  Then  I  visited  Switzerland,  France,  and  Eng 
land,  and  started  for  America.  It  will  be  seen  I  saw 
many  different  people,  varying  as  much  as  possible  in 
external  life  and  mental  traits.  The  great  lesson  I 
learned  from  it  all,  and  from  four  years  in  Europe  at 
different  periods,  was  that  in  everything  essential  we 
are  far  better  off  than  any  other  nation  in  the  world.  I 
pity  the  understanding  and  heart  of  him  who  returns 
from  a  foreign  tour  with  his  tongue  full  of  comparisons 
unfavorable  to  this  country.  I  left  England  covered,  as 
it  had  been  for  weeks,  with  fog,  and,  day  after  day,  not  a 
ray  of  sunshine,  and  my  next  view  of  land  was  when  I 
entered  Boston  harbor,  on  the  loveliest  of  Sunday  morn 
ings,  the  sun  illuminating  everything  with  his  golden  light, 


Ill 


A  SUMMER  IN  NORWAY  191 

and  all  nature  and  every  being  reflecting  it  joyously 
back,  and  looking  so  bright  and  happy,  —  can  it  be  a 
wonder  that  the  contrast  between  the  old  world  and  the 
new  struck  me  as  never  before,  and  that  my  heart  of 
hearts  was  filled  to  overflowing  with  a  gratitude  I 
could  find  110  language  to  express  that  I  was  born 
America,  and  was  home  again  ? 

"  There  is  no  other  land  like  thee, 

No  dearer  shore; 

Thou  art  the  shelter  of  the  free 

The  home,  the  port  of  liberty, 
Thou  hast  been,  and  shalt  ever  be, 

Till  time  is  o'er, 

"  Land  of  the  forest  and  the  rock, 

Of  dark  blue  lake  and  mighty  river, 
Of  mountains  reared  on  high  to  mock 
The  storm's  career  and  lightning's  shock, 
My  own  dear  land  forever !  " 


SOME   PERSONS  I  HAVE  SEEN 


THE  first  man  of  national  reputation  that  I  ever  saw 
was  John  Quincy  Adams,  at  Newburyport,  July  4, 1837. 
He  had  been  a  law  student  there  when  a  young  man, 
and  his  return  to  give  an  oration,  after  such  a  distin 
guished  career,  was  a  marked  event,  and  people  gathered 
from  a  great  distance  around  to  see  him.  I  was  a  little 
boy,  but  I  had  an  intense  desire  to  see  distinguished 
men,  —  far  more  than  now,  —  and  I  came  sixteen  miles 
to  see  an  ex-President.  There  was  a  great  crowd,  and 
Mr.  Adams  was  introduced  to  the  people,  on  Brown 
square,  by  Caleb  Gushing,  then  a  young  man,  thirty-seven 
years  of  age. 

The  procession  was  formed  to  go  to  the  Pleasant-street 
Church,  and  I  joined  it.  At  the  church  the  officers  in 
charge  objected  to  my  entrance  on  the  ground  of  my 
youth,  but  I  pleaded  that  I  had  walked  the  whole 
distance  in  the  procession  ;  kind  people  around  me  took 
my  part,  moved  by  my  earnestness,  and  I  was  admitted. 

Nothing  in  the  now  long  past  is  fresher  in  my  mind 
than  Mr.  Adams  and  all  the  exercises.  He  was  short 
and  thick-set,  very  bald,  a  trait  of  the  family,  and 
seemed  old  and  feeble,  yet  when  he  began  to  speak  it 
was  with  the  energy  of  a  young  man.  His  voice  was 
sharp  and  shrill ;  he  gesticulated  much,  and  used  great 
emphasis  when  he  wished  to  call  attention  to  a  point. 

192 


SOME   PERSONS   I   HAVE   SEEN  193 

He  spoke  naturally,  had  no  arts  of  oratory,  and  though 
an  earnest,  forcible  speaker  I  was  disappointed.  He  was 
not  the  cultivated  orator  I  had  expected  to  hear  in  the 
"  old  man  eloquent,"  for  even  then  such  he  was  called. 
He  was  a  most  remarkable  man  in  his  industry,  acquire 
ments,  long  public  service,  and  mental  powers  unim 
paired  to  the  last.  He  was  a  formidable  antagonist  in 
his  congressional  career,  as  he  knew  so  much  more  of 
public  affairs  than  any  other  man  in  Congress  and  was 
thoroughly  informed  where  the  knowledge  of  his  op 
ponent  was  imperfect.  It  is  remembered  that,  towards 
the  close  of  their  lives,  a  distinct  issue  was  made  be 
tween  him  and  General  Jackson  as  to  a  question  of  fact, 
and  Mr.  Adams  in  Faneuil  Hall  showed  his  diary,  where 
he  had  made  his  record  in  regard  to  it,  and  there  was 
no  more  doubt  as  to  whose  was  the  error.  It  should  be 
said  of  him,  too,  that  his  sincerity  and  integrity  were 
never  questioned.  The  manuscript  of  his  oration  is  one 
of  the  treasures  of  the  Newburyport  Public  Library. 

The  next  great  man  that  I  saw  was  Daniel  Webster,  the 
idol  of  my  youth,  at  the  great  Whig  convention  of  1840, 
on  Bunker  Hill,  of  whom  I  have  written  in  another  article. 

Rufus  Choate  was  at  this  time  at  the  height  of  his 
fame  as  an  orator,  and  as  a  successful  jury  lawyer,  prob 
ably,  he  never  had  his  superior  in  the  United  States.  I 
heard  him  many  times  in  court  and  on  the  stump,  and 
always  with  admiration.  His  person  was  striking,  with 
his  pale  face  and  waving  hair.  He  was  one  of  the  best 
scholars  ever  graduated  from  Dartmouth,  and  had  a 
copiousness  of  language,  a  richness  of  illustration,  and 
a  keen  wit,  combined  with  strong  logic,  that  gave  an 
interest  to  the  most  barren  topic.  It  was  said  of  his 


194  BIOGRAPHICAL  AND  OTHER  ARTICLES 

arguments  that  they  were  an  iron  cable  covered  with 
roses.  As  we  have  elsewhere  stated,  on  his  oration  on 
Daniel  Webster  before  Dartmouth  College,  one  sentence 
fills  four  pages.  He  was  so  earnest  that  he  was  always 
eloquent,  whether  pleading  before  a  justice  of  the  peace 
or  before  a  jury  in  a  crowded  court  room.  No  man  ever 
more  loved  his  profession,  and  it  was  with  reluctance 
that  he  was  sent  to  Congress,  where  he  did  not  feel  at 
home.  Brilliant  as  was  his  reputation  with  his  contem 
poraries,  like  that  of  most  other  lawyers,  his  fame  will 
not,  probably,  be  enduring.  A  very  intelligent  gentle 
man,  living  all  his  life  in  New  Hampshire,  recently  asked 
me  who  Jeremiah  Mason  was,  the  greatest  lawyer  ever 
in  his  State.  I  rejoice  that  a  statue  of  Rufus  Choate  has 
recently  been  placed  in  the  Court  House  at  Boston,  the 
gift  of  a  Boston  schoolmaster. 

Edward  Everett  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  of 
American  orators.  Distinguished  as  a  scholar  at  Harvard, 
while  little  more  than  a  boy  drawing  great  crowds  as  a 
clergyman  in  Boston,  he  became  professor  at  Harvard, 
member  of  Congress,  governor  of  the  State,  secretary  of 
state,  president  of  Harvard  University,  and  few  men 
ever  gave  more  learned  and  finished  addresses  on  many 
different  occasions  and  subjects.  He  was  a  candidate 
for  vice-president  on  the  Union  ticket  with  Bell  of 
Tennessee  in  1860.  He  was  active  in  raising  a  fund  to 
make  Mount  Vernon  the  property  of  the  nation,  arid 
delivered  an  address  in  many  places  for  that  purpose 
which  in  manner  and  matter  was  the  finest  effort  I 
have  ever  heard.  He  was  not  successful  as  an  extem 
poraneous  speaker,  in  which  his  gifted  son  so  greatly 
excels,  but  prepared  carefully,  committing  to  memory, 


SOME   PERSONS   I   HAVE    SEEN  195 

and  if  every  movement,  every  gesture,  every  tone  of  the 
voice  was  studied,  they  were  natural.  He  was  a  high- 
toned,  sensitive  man,  and,  it  is  feared,  would  have  had 
poor  success  as  a  politician  in  this  pushing  age.  I 
doubt  if  he  ever  sought  any  position,  but  the  office 
sought  him,  showing  how  times  have  changed. 

About  1840  what  was  termed  Millerism  deserves  men 
tion  for  the  sensation  it  created  in  New  England.  Mr. 
Miller,  its  author,  had  been  a  sailor,  and  had  devoted 
much  time  while  at  sea  to  a  study  of  the  Bible,  with 
which  he  became  very  conversant.  He  had  but  little 
education,  but  became  a  man  of  "  one  book."  He  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  prophecies  all  pointed  to  the 
end  of  the  world  in  1843,  and  so  skilfully  did  he  quote 
and  explain  different  passages  that  his  opponents  found 
it  difficult  to  answer  his  points.  Many  publications 
were  issued  to  sustain  his  position,  and  his  followers 
numbered  thousands,  many  of  whom  gave  away  their 
property,  and  prepared  for  themselves  white  robes  in 
which  to  ascend  to  Heaven.  I  heard  him  speak  several 
times  in  churches,  and  once  at  a  camp  meeting  of  his 
people.  He  was  an  old  man,  very  stout,  his  voice  and 
hands  trembling  with  age,  but  speaking  with  an  earnest 
ness  that  left  no  doubt  of  his  sincerity,  and  that  im 
pressed  his  hearers.  He  would  quote  passage  after 
passage,  all  pointing  to  1843  as  the  end  of  all  things 
earthly,  and  then,  in  the  most  solemn  manner,  urge 
them  to  prepare  for  the  judgment  so  soon  to  come  ;  and 
I  have  never  before  or  since  seen  an  audience  so  moved 
as  once  in  Haverhill.  Man  after  man  arose,  and  ex 
pressed  his  belief  in  what  had  been  said,  and  even  the 
skeptical  were  excited  by  the  almost  universal  sympathy. 


196  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

The  years  1845  and  1846  I  spent  in  Kentucky ;  was 
introduced  to  William  J.  Graves,  and  saw  and  heard 
much  of  him.  Old  people  remember  the  excitement  all 
over  the  country  caused  by  his  killing  Jonathan  Cilley 
in  a  duel,  Feb.  24,  1838,  an  excitement  greater,  proba 
bly,  than  that  of  any  other  duel  since  that  between 
Hamilton  and  Burr.  Mr.  Graves  was  a  fine  looking 
man,  popular  and  gentlemanly.  A  true  Kentuckian,  he 
was  fond  of  games  of  chance,  and  not  a  prohibitionist. 
Of  course  he  did  not  speak  of  the  duel,  but  his  friends 
discussed  it  freely.  They  said  he  did  not  feel  remorse 
for  the  act,  as  he  thought  Mr.  Cilley  meant  to  kill  him, 
and  that  he  had  been  driven  into  the  duel  by  what  was 
termed  the  "  code  of  honor."  Singular  as  it  seemed,  he 
was  not  familiar  with  the  rifle,  as  are  most  Kentuckians, 
but  he  had  iron  nerves,  and  was  cool,  while  Mr.  Cilley 
could  have  killed  game,  but  was  unnerved  against  a 
man,  even  if  he  intended  to  kill  Mr.  Graves,  in  which 
idea,  without  a  doubt,  the  friends  of  Mr.  Graves  were 
mistaken.  That  Mr.  Cilley,  a  New  England  man,  should 
have  accepted  a  challenge,  has  ever  been  regarded  with 
surprise. 

In  1848  I  visited  England  for  the  first  time,  and  I 
was  at  an  age  when  I  was  anxious  to  look  at  distin 
guished  men,  and  especially  the  old  Duke  of  Wellington. 
I  was  seated  on  a  bench  in  the  park  near  the  Horse 
Guards,  saying  to  a  gentleman  at  my  side  that  I  wished 
to  see  their  great  warrior,  when  I  heard  a  cry,  "the 
Duke,  the  Duke."  "  There  he  is,"  he  said,  "  the  man 
on  horseback."  I  hastened  towards  him,  and  was  close 
to  him  by  the  time  he  had  alighted  from  his  horse,  and 
given  it  in  charge  of  his  attendant.  He  walked  some 


SOME   PERSONS   I   HAVE    SEEN  19T 

rods  to  the  Horse  Guards,  rang  at  a  door  which  was  not 
opened  for  several  minutes,  while  I  was  so  near  that 
I  could  have  touched  him,  and,  in  the  American  fashion, 
have  asked  him  to  shake  hands  with  me  —  which  I  did 
not  do,  but  I  devoured  him  with  my  eyes.  I  have  never 
been  so  interested  in  the  sight  of  any  other  man.  There 
was  the  conqueror  of  Napoleon,  and  it  took  me  back  to 
the  wonderful  history  of  that  most  wonderful  man,  of 
which  I  had  read  so  much,  and  made  it  real,  for  here 
was  one  of  the  great  actors  of  that  remarkable  period. 
He  was  nearly  four-score  years  of  age,  but  seemed  vigor 
ous,  though  bent.  His  most  marked  feature  was  an  enor 
mous  nose.  His  hair  was  thick,  cut  short,  and  perfectly 
white.  He  was  below  the  average  height,  and  what  is 
called  thick-set.  I  saw  him  several  times  after  that, 
once  in  the  House  of  Lords,  where  he  was  moving  about 
actively,  wearing  a  white  vest. 

At  the  same  time  I  saw  Prince  Albert,  a  handsome 
young  man,  beginning  to  be  bald,  driving  with  the 
Queen  by  his  side  her  first  drive  after  her  confinement 
two  weeks  before.  I  was  at  the  entrance  of  Hyde  Park, 
near  the  Apsley  House,  the  residence  of  the  Duke  of 
Wellington,  when  a  policeman  with  whom  I  had  been  in 
conversation  told  me  if  I  waited  a  few  moments  I 
should  see  the  Queen,  for  notice  had  been  sent  before  to 
the  police.  It  was  a  period  of  some  anxiety,  for  the 
great  Chartist  meeting  was  about  to  be  held,  which 
Kingsley  has  so  graphically  described  in  his  "  Alton 
Locke,"  and  a  demonstration  against  royalty  was  feared. 

I  saw  in  the  House  of  Commons  many  men  of  fame, 
such  as  Sir  Robert  Peel,  a  fine-looking  man ;  John  Stuart 
Mill,  small  and  bald ;  Viscount  Morpeth,  who  had  just 


198  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

before  visited  the  United  States,  and  Lord  John  Russell, 
then  at  the  head  of  the  government.  The  last  made  a 
long  speech,  which  I  had  the  privilege  of  hearing.  He 
was  a  small  man,  and  a  very  good  speaker,  though  he 
could  hardly  be  called  eloquent. 

I  had  a  letter  of  introduction  to  Sir  William  Brown, 
the  many  times  millionaire,  of  Liverpool,  at  the  head  of 
the  great  firm  of  Brown  and  Shipley,  then  a  member  of 
Parliament.  He  received  me  very  kindly,  and  at  my 
request  gave  me  several  orders  of  admission  to  the  de 
bates  of  the  House  of  Commons.  He  was  small,  old, 
white-haired,  and  appeared  in  delicate  health,  due,  as  his 
wife,  who  was  with  him,  said,  to  the  late  hours  of  the 
sessions  of  the  House  of  Commons.  He  left  no  children, 
and  established  the  Brown  free  library  and  museum, 
which  is  such  a  treasure  to  Liverpool. 

No  clergyman  of  London  had  so  high  a  reputation  for 
eloquence  at  that  time  as  the  Hon.  and  Rev.  Baptist 
W.  Noel,  and  I  heard  him  preach,  but  was  disappointed 
that  he  fell  so  much  below  my  expectations.  Years 
after  I  heard  often  the  more  celebrated  Spurgeon.  He 
was  short,  thick-set,  with  a  remarkably  fine  voice,  of 
great  compass.  I  heard  him  twice  in  a  hall  said  to  seat 
20,000.  The  first  time  I  sat  near  to  have  a  good  view 
of  him,  and  the  next  time  I  took  a  seat  as  far  as 
possible  from  the  speaker,  and  heard  every  word  dis 
tinctly.  He  was  very  earnest,  by  no  means  so  eloquent 
and  gifted  as  Beecher,  but  more  impressive,  with  none 
of  the  jokes  with  which  the  latter  so  often  interspersed 
his  sermons.  He  was  interested  in  many  objects,  his 
whole  aim  seemed  to  be  to  do  good,  and  probably  no 
clergyman  in  London  was  ever  more  useful. 


SOME  PEKSONS   I  HAVE   SEEN  199 

I  heard  Cardinal  Manning  preach ;  plain  in  manner, 
but  learned  and  able,  one  of  the  many  High  Church 
Episcopalians  who  have  gone  over  to  Romanism;  also 
the  gifted  James  Martineau,  who  impressed  me  even 
more  favorably  in  the  pulpit,  by  his  cultivated  appear 
ance,  than  he  had  done  by  his  writings. 

I  visited  Europe  during  the  Paris  Exposition  of  1867, 
and  never  could  I  have  been  there  at  a  more  interesting 
period  for  sight-seeing.  I  heard  Dickens  twice  in  Lon 
don  read  from  his  own  writings,  and  aside  from  his  fame 
as  an  author,  he  had  great  gifts  as  a  reader  and  actor. 

The  House  of  Commons  is  very  unlike  our  National 
House  of  Representatives.     The  galleries  are  small,  and 
admittance  can  be  gained  only  by  an  order  from  a  mem 
ber.     The  members  sit  with  their  hats  on,  and  have  no 
desks  before  them  as  at  Washington,  which  the   sena 
tors  and  representatives  use  for  writing,  or,  not  unfre- 
quently,   as   footstools.     This   forces    attention   to   the 
business,  but  coughing  and  other  means  of  disposing  of 
a  disagreeable  speaker  are  adopted.     Reading  speeches 
and  obtaining  leave  to  print  what  is  never  spoken,  so 
common  at  Washington,  are  unknown.    I  heard  D'Israeli 
speak  for  an  hour  and  a  half.     He  spoke  clearly,  with 
great  distinctness   and  hardly  a  gesture,  held  the  undi 
vided  attention,  and  sustained  by  his  matter  his  high 
reputation.     He  was    always    epigrammatic,  expressing 
much  in  a  few  words    that  were  remembered.     As  an 
orator   he   was   inferior   to   his    great   rival    Gladstone, 
whom  I  heard  in  a  brief  speech  in  praise  of  America 
for  hastening  to  pay  the  principal  of  its  debt.     He  was 
fluent,  never  hesitating  for  a  word,  used  many  gestures, 
more  like  most  of  our  American  orators,  able  to  speak 


200  BIOGRAPHICAL  AND   OTHER  ARTICLES 

for  any  length  of  time  on  any  subject,  and  he  spoke 
often  and  ably,  for  he  was  a  distinguished  scholar.  I 
was  anxious  to  hear  Bright,  but  was  disappointed, 
though  I  saw  him  often. 

Paris  in  1867  did  its  best  to  entertain  the  strangers 
that  attended  the  Exposition ;  and  it  usually  does  its 
best,  for  it  lives  on  them.  Every  place  of  interest  was 
open  to  them,  where  closed  to  its  own  people.  Among 
other  places  on  exhibition  was  Malmaison,  fitted  up  as 
when  occupied  by  Josephine,  all  the  articles  owned  by 
her  collected  as  far  as  possible,  and  among  other  things 
was  the  last  piece  of  embroidery  worked  by  her,  the 
needle  remaining  in  it  as  she  had  left  it,  with  the  un 
used  thread.  Nearly  every  sovereign  of  Europe  was 
there  at  some  period  during  the  summer,  a  public  recep 
tion  was  made  for  each,  and  such  grand  parades  Europe 
had  never  seen  before.  I  saw  Napoleon,  with  his  dull, 
inexpressive  face,  many  times,  whose  career  was  marked 
by  such  changes  of  fortune,  and  of  whose  general  capac 
ity  such  different  estimates  have  been  made.  His  wife, 
too,  graceful,  beautiful,  winning  in  manner,  was  often 
driving  with  her  gorgeous  carriage  through  the  streets 
and  in  the  Bois  de  Boulogne,  her  history  as  full  of 
changes  as  that  of  her  husband.  I  saw,  too,  their  little 
son,  a  pretty  blue-eyed  boy,  whose  tragic  death  in  South 
Africa  could  then  have  been  so  little  anticipated,  but 
that  seemed  almost  a  fitting  end  of  the  last  prominent 
member  of  a  family  that  had  convulsed  Europe  so  long, 
and,  to  appearance,  had  no  future.  He  certainly  died 
bravely. 

The  world  up  to  that  time  had  had  no  such  grand  Ex 
position,  and  to  that  end  Napoleon  and  Eugenie  worked 


SOME   PERSONS   I  HAVE   SEEN  201 

untiringly.  It  has  been  a  model  for  many  similar 
efforts.  In  visiting  it  one  day,  in  a  small  room,  I  no 
ticed  a  short,  thick-set  man,  with  glasses,  moving  around 
quickly  in  company  with  a  lady,  inspecting  everything 
and  asking  many  questions.  I  thought  it  must  be 
Monsieur  Thiers,  and  the  attendant  confirmed  my  im 
pression,  —  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  of  Europe. 
Coming  into  notice  first  as  a  journalist,  he  became  dis 
tinguished  as  a  member  of  the  House  of  Deputies, 
helped  make  France  a  republic,  became  its  president, 
and  few  men  have  ever  been  more  sincerely  lamented 
by  all  France  when  he  died. 

Of  the  different  sovereigns  present,  the  old  Emperor 
of  Germany,  Kaiser  Wilhelm,  was,  probably,  the  most 
attractive,  accompanied  as  he  was  by  Bismarck.  He 
was  a  son  of  the  beautiful  Empress  Louise.  To  him 
and  Bismarck  Germany  is  indebted  for  its  unity.  I  saw 
him  afterwards  several  times  at  Berlin  and  Potsdam. 
No  one  could  have  dreamed  then  that  he  was  so  soon  to 
return,  not  as  a  guest,  but  a  conqueror.  I  saw  him 
once  talking  with  a  lady,  and  it  was  with  an  uncovered 
head,  though  so  cold  I  would  not  have  dared  thus  to 
expose  myself.  We  can  learri  politeness  from  Europe. 
A  prominent  American  once  boasted  to  me  of  a  quarrel 
he  had  with  the  attendants  because  he  would  not  remove 
his  hat  in  a  church  —  a  want  of  respect  for  the  place  of 
which  the  humblest  European  would  not  have  been 
guilty.  I  never  saw  a  funeral  procession  in  the  streets 
of  Paris  that  every  one  did  not  stand  uncovered  till  it 
had  passed. 

Among  others  Gounod,  the  great  musical  composer, 
was  once  pointed  out  to  me. 


202  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER    ARTICLES 

I  often  in  Paris  attended  lectures  at  the  College  of 
France,  to  hear  pure  French  spoken.  Lectures  were 
given  by  the  ablest  men  of  France,  of  whom,  perhaps, 
the  best  known  in  America  was  Laboulaye.  He  was  a 
handsome  man,  and  drew  larger  audiences  than  any 
other  professor.  Another  popular  lecturer  was  Guizot, 
son  of  the  eminent  Guizot,  who  often  came  as  an  audi 
tor.  I  was  once  the  only  listener  to  a  lecturer  on  San 
scrit,  but  the  professor  did  his  duty,  and  went  through 
the  lecture. 

At  Geneva,  where  I  went  from  Paris,  I  saw  two  of 
the  famous  men  of  Europe.  One  was  Garibaldi,  who 
had  exerted  such  an  influence  over  the  destiny  of  Italy. 
He  came  to  attend  a  convention,  and  his  reception  on 
Sunday  was  enthusiastic.  Every  one  was  in  the  street 
to  greet  him,  and  loud  cheers  were  given  as  he  passed 
along.  He  made  a  long  speech  in  French  to  the  Con 
vention,  and  spoke  fluently.  His  address,  however,  was 
full  of  attacks  on  religion  and  the  clergy,  and  it  did 
much  to  cool  the  ardor  of  his  reception.  He  was  a  man 
of  medium  size,  his  hair  thin  and  nearly  white.  He  was 
clad  very  simply,  wearing  the  red  shirt,  as  he  is  usually 
represented  in  his  pictures. 

I  had  long  been  interested  in  Merle  d'Aubigny,  for  I 
had  early  read  his  "  History  of  the  Reformation,"  which 
gave  him  a  world- wide  reputation.  I  attended  one  of 
his  lectures,  and  a  student  whose  acquaintance  I  had 
made  introduced  me  to  him.  His  lecture  was  in  French, 
and  so  was  our  conversation,  though  he  made  an  attempt 
to  use  English.  I  soon  found,  however,  that  my  poor 
French  was  better  than  his  bad  English.  He  was  an 
old  man  then,  but  grand-looking,  his  head  reminding  me 


SOME   PERSONS   I   HAVE   SEEN  203 

of  Daniel  Webster,  if  any  man  can  look  like  our  great 
American.  He  spoke  very  kindly  of  America,  from 
which  students  had  come  to  him,  one  of  whom  I  knew 
well. 

I  was  in  Athens  during  the  spring  of  1868,  and  was 
present  at  the  opening  of  the  Greek  Parliament,  when 
the  king  read  his  speech.  He  was  then  a  handsome 
young  man,  and  his  selection  by  the  Greeks  for  their 
king  seemed  to  be  wise.  His  tutor  told  me  that  his 
Greek  pronunciation  as  he  read  was  very  defective, 
though  he  had  been  carefully  trained.  I  saw  the  queen 
often  —  once  as  she  was  worshipping  in  the  Greek 
church.  She  was  young,  had  only  recently  been  mar 
ried,  was  of  the  Russian  royal  family,  and  I  thought 
her  one  of  the  most  beautiful  women  I  had  seen  in 
Europe. 

In  Rome,  in  1868,  I  had  many  opportunities  of  seeing 
Pope  Pius  IX.,  and  was  often  blessed  by  him  as  one  of 
a  crowd.  He  was  a  handsome  old  man  with  a  benevo 
lent  countenance,  well  calculated  to  deepen  the  awe 
thrown  around  his  person.  Once  I  saw  him  borne  in  a 
chair  by  men  around  the  court  of  Saint  Peter's  church 
with  much  ceremony,  and  he  appeared  in  public  on 
many  occasions  at  religious  festivals,  accompanied  by 
the  cardinals  clad  in  rich  vestments  and  in  magnificent 
carriages,  drawn  by  richly  caparisoned  horses.  Such 
spectacles  were  intended  to  impress  the  people  with  the 
sanctity  of  the  religious  prelates,  and  they  had  that 
effect.  Two  years  later,  in  1870,  the  Pope  lost  his  tem 
poral  power,  and  secluded  himself  in  the  Vatican. 

George  P.  Marsh,  that  accomplished  scholar,  was  our 
Italian  minister,  and  Hiram  Powers,  W.  W.  Story,  and 


204  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER   ARTICLES 

Mr.  Ball  were  in  Italy  as  artists,  an  honor  to  American 
art,  all  of  whom  I  saw. 

I  saw  the  present  Pope  only  once  in  Rome  in  1880, 
and  then  by  accident.  I  had  lost  my  way  in  the  Vatican, 
and  was  straying  in  forbidden  grounds.  He  is  a  small 
man  physically,  of  profound  scholarship,  and  much  re 
spected. 

At  a  later  visit,  I  had  many  opportunities  of  seeing  the 
King  of  Italy,  whose  sad  death  has  been  so  much  la 
mented.  He  had  the  love  of  his  people,  to  whose  wel 
fare  he  was  devoted,  and  so  had  the  queen,  also  their 
son,  whom  I  used  to  see  as  a  little  boy.  The  queen 
could  hardly  be  called  beautiful,  but  she  was  graceful 
and  winning,  and  when  she  appeared  in  public  every  one 
cheered  her  warmly. 

The  handsomest  sovereign  of  Europe  seems  to  me  to 
be  Oscar  II.,  King  of  Sweden  and  Norway,  a  grandson 
of  Bernadotte,  one  of  Napoleon's  marshals.  I  was  in 
Bergen  in  1879,  on  my  return  from  the  North  Cape,  at 
the  time  of  his  first  visit  to  that  city,  and  no  ruler  could 
have  had  a  more  royal  and  enthusiastic  reception.  It 
was  a  good  opportunity  to  see  the  national  costumes  of 
the  people,  now  rapidly  disappearing  in  the  general  in 
tercourse  of  nations.  It  had  been  a  rare  sight  in  Bergen 
to  see  a  king,  and  all  classes  from  the  whole  country 
around  gathered  to  bid  him  welcome.  There  was  a 
long  procession  of  boys  and  girls  in  their  peasant  dress, 
and  that  of  the  young  ladies  was  peculiarly  attractive, 
and  I  regret  that  my  education  has  not  prepared  me 
properly  to  describe  it.  Their  gowns  were  evidently 
homespun,  as  were  those  of  our  grandmothers  years 
ago,  were  bright  in  color,  wide  open  at  the  breast  to  dis- 


SOME   PERSONS   I   HAVE   SEEN  205 

play  a  richly  embroidered  bodice,  I  think  it  is  called, 
and  they  were  decorated  with  much  old  silver  jewelry, 
heirlooms  which  the  poorest  families  are  proud  to  pos 
sess.  I  have  seldom  seen  such  beautiful  girls,  and  all 
looked  happy,  for  each  one  was  dressed  for  exhibition, 
and  thought  the  eyes  of  the  king  were  fixed  on  her  alone. 
The  king  mingled  freely  with  the  people,  and  made 
himself  very  popular.  Once  as  I  was  walking  alone 
outside  of  the  city  we  exchanged  bows. 

Before  our  civil  war,  an  epoch  from  which  many 
changes  have  dated,  the  lyceum  lecture  course  was  the 
popular  literary  entertainment  of  the  winter  in  New 
England,  with  one  of  which  the  writer  was  connected, 
and  it  brought  him  in  contact  with  some  of  the  most 
brilliant  men  of  the  country.  Wendell  Phillips,  a  gen 
tleman  by  birth  and  education,  with  an  unusually  re 
fined  presence  and  a  classical  outline  of  face,  was  one  of 
the  finest  orators  America  has  produced.  Calm,  using 
but  few  gestures,  distinct  in  his  utterance,  his  short, 
crisp,  pointed  sentences  went  straight  to  the  hearts  of 
his  hearers,  and  he  was  the  most  effective  of  all  the  anti- 
slavery  speakers.  He  had  a  favorite  lecture  on  the 
"  Lost  Arts,"  aiming  to  show  that  in  some  respects  the 
ancients  surpassed  the  moderns. 

John  B.  Gough  lectured  mainly  on  temperance,  and 
drew  crowded  houses  wherever  he  went  in  America  or 
England.  As  a  mimic,  actor,  and  story  teller  moving 
his  hearers  to  tears  or  laughter,  he  has  had  but  few 
equals.  In  early  life  he  was  a  drunken  book-binder  in 
Newburyport. 

Henry  Ward  Beecher  lectured  every  winter,  and  no 
popular  speaker  in  America  ever  surpassed  him.  With 


206  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER   ARTICLES 

a  fine  presence  and  voice,  a  rare  power  of  illustration, 
an  unusual  command  of  language,  he  could  hold  his 
audience  for  any  length  of  time.  He  was  not  a  scholar 
or  logician,  but  warm-hearted  and  inspiring,  whatever 
his  subject. 

Few  speakers  did  so  much  for  the  Union  cause  during 
our  civil  war,  both  here  and  in  England.  He  was 
remarkable  for  his  ready  wit.  An  illustration  will  show 
his  quickness.  Entering  a  barber's  shop  where  he  was 
a  stranger,  the  barber  asked  if  he  was  to  attend  the 
lecture  by  Beecher  that  evening.  The  reply  was  that 
he  had  no  ticket.  "  Then  you  have  no  chance  but  to 
stand  in  a  crowd,  as  the  tickets  are  all  sold,"  said  the 
barber.  "  Well,  that  is  always  my  luck  when  I  hear 
that  man  lecture,  I  always  have  to  stand,"  said  Beecher. 

John  Pierpont  started  as  a  lawyer,  but  became  a 
clergyman,  and  was  noted  for  a  long  legal  contest  with 
the  Hollis-street  Society  of  Boston,  of  which  he  was 
pastor.  He  was  tall,  commanding  in  person,  a  good 
speaker  and  poet,  and  an  original  laborer  in  the  anti- 
slavery  cause. 

E.  H.  Chapin  was  a  popular  lecturer,  with  a  voice 
corresponding  with  his  huge  frame,  and  with  considera 
ble  eloquence. 

No  lecturer  was  more  welcome  than  Starr  King. 
Tall,  slender,  full  of  wit,  he  had  a  brilliant  career  in 
New  England,  and  later  in  California,  which  State  he 
did  much  to  keep  in  the  Union  during  the  rebellion. 
There  was  sadness  all  over  the  country  at  his  early  and 
sudden  decease.  He  was  buried  in  front  of  his  church 
in  San  Francisco,  and  few  strangers  neglect  to  visit  his 
grave. 


SOME   PERSONS    I   HAVE   SEEN  207 

George  W.  Curtis,  the  orator,  finished  writer,  culti 
vated  gentleman,  honest  man,  was  deeply  regretted 
when  he  died,  for  there  was  no  one  to  fill  the  vacancy. 
He  lectured  every  year,  and  it  was  a  rich  treat  to  listen 
to  him. 

Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  the  philosopher  and  poet,  was 
always  in  demand  as  a  lecturer  from  his  high  reputation 
and  the  excellence  of  his  matter.  He  was  an  interest 
ing  speaker,  though  he  could  hardly  be  called  an  orator. 
He  spoke  slowly,  with  no  gestures,  his  lecture  a  series 
of  short  expressive  sentences  each  one  a  text.  It  was 
not  easy  to  tell  his  subject,  so  many  different  ideas  were 
suggested.  I  heard  his  friend  Alcott  say  that  his  lect 
ures  were  a  patch-work.  When  a  striking  thought 
came  to  him  he  would  note  it  down  —  then  another  — 
and  so  on  —  and  at  the  end,  perhaps,  of  twenty  years, 
put  them  together  for  a  lecture.  He  was  a  strong  anti- 
slavery  man,  and  before  the  war,  whatever  his  subject, 
would  allude  to  the  wrong  of  slavery  and  the  duty  to 
abolish  it.  He  was  one  of  the  purest  of  men,  and  the 
idol  of  a  crowd  of  worshippers. 

Theodore  Parker  was  one  of  the  marked  men  of  his 
time,  and  a  constant  lecturer.  He  was  noted  for  his 
strong  abolition  views,  but  more  for  his  rejection  of  the 
old  theology  and  of  the  Bible  as  an  inspired  volume,  a 
position  rarely  taken  by  a  clergyman  at  that  period. 
Withdrawing  from  his  denomination,  he  formed  an  in 
dependent  society,  and  for  years  filled  Music  Hall.  He 
was  calm  but  intense  as  a  speaker,  rarely  using  a 
gesture,  and  few  could  so  hold  the  attention  of  an 
audience.  Even  in  a  Lyceum  lecture  when  such  subjects 
were  supposed  to  be  excluded  whatever  his  topic,  he 


208  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

rarely  failed  in  some  sentences  to  indicate  his  abhor 
rence  of  slavery  and  the  old  theology.  He  became 
early  bald,  and  soon  allowed  his  beard  to  grow,  which 
turning  gray  gave  him  a  venerable  appearance,  though  he 
was  only  fifty- two  at  his  decease.  He  courted  prominence, 
and  once  at  a  meeting  in  Faneuil  Hall  called  to  protest 
against  the  rising  abolition  sentiment,  when  the  great 
lawyer  Benjamin  R.  Curtis  was  speaking,  I  sat  by  his 
side  in  the  gallery,  and  he  rose  and  made  an  attempt  to 
interrupt  the  speech,  but  Mr.  Curtis  would  not  listen  to 
him.  He  was  an  amiable  man,  a  sincere  friend  of 
humanity,  and  greatly  loved  by  those  who  knew  him. 
He  died  before  the  great  struggle  which  he  had  done 
much  to  cause  —  died,  as  is  well  understood,  when 
longing  to  live,  and  was  buried  just  outside  the 
walls  of  Florence,  where  he  had  gone  in  search  of 
health. 

Lieutenant  Maury  gave  several  lectures  before  our 
lyceum.  He  was  one  of  the  first  to  study  ocean  cur 
rents,  and  to  no  other  man  is  the  country  more  indebted 
for  information  on  this  subject,  and  for  directing  atten 
tion  to  its  importance  in  commerce.  He  was  a  small, 
lame  man,  but  very  interesting  as  a  lecturer  and  in 
private,  as  well  as  in  his  writings,  his  works  having  the 
charm  of  a  romance.  He  was  a  Southerner  and  joined 
the  Confederate  service. 

William  Lloyd  Garrison  lectured  much,  and  always 
on  slavery.  He  was  a  bald-headed  man,  fluent  in  speech, 
a  good  speaker,  and  in  private  agreeable.  His  courage 
in  advocating  his  views  was  never  subdued  by  personal 
danger,  and  from  being  the  pursued  of  a  mob,  he  lived 
to  see  himself  regarded  as  one  of  the  saviors  of  a  race, 


SOME   PERSONS   I   HAVE   SEEN  209 

and  his  statue  now  occupies  a  prominent  place  on  the 
proudest  street  of  Boston. 

I  made  the  acquaintance  of  Artemas  Ward,  the  cele 
brated  wit,  when  he  gave  the  second  lecture,  I  think  he 
said,  he  had  ever  given  in  public.  It  was  on  the  "  Babes 
in  the  Woods,"  and  the  humor  of  it  was  in  beginning 
some  story,  and  when  the  interest  of  the  audience  was 
at  its  height  to  hear  the  end  he  would  break  off  and 
say,  "  But  I  must  return  to  my  subject,  which  is  4  The 
Babes  in  the  Woods.'  " 

He  was  a  slim,  boyish-looking  young  man,  and  in  a 
company  given  for  him  in  the  Public  Library  building  at 
Newburyport,  then  a  private  dwelling-house,  he  appeared 
modest  and  diffident,  more  a  listener  than  a  talker.  He 
afterwards  went  over  the  country  giving  entertainments 
with  his  "Wax  figures,"  as  he  called  them,  which  drew 
large  crowds,  and  then  went  to  England,  where  he  died 
young  and  lamented.  It  seemed  difficult  to  associate 
death  with  such  a  temperament. 

Dr.  Holmes  was  a  frequent  and  welcome  lecturer,  a 
fine  speaker,  full  of  wit  in  his  prose  as  in  his  poetry. 

The  great  scientist  Agassiz  lectured  from  time  to 
time,  and  was  able  to  make  his  special  topics,  however 
abtruse,  popular  with  a  miscellaneous  audience.  He  was 
a  large,  handsome  man,  with  perfect  command  of  English, 
though  with  a  foreign  accent.  Dr.  Perkins,  the  most 
scientific  native  of  Newburyport,  was  intimate  with  him. 

Caleb  Gushing  often  lectured  at  the  request  of  his 
fellow  citizens,  always  instructive  and  interesting,  from 
his  vast  storehouse,  and  Thomas  Hart  Benton  gave  one 
lecture.  I  have  inserted  in  this  volume  articles  on  both. 
Joshua  R.  Giddings,  too,  lectured  on  slavery. 


210  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

One  of  the  most  popular  speakers  before  a  miscellan 
eous  assembly  to  whom  I  ever  listened,  especially  in 
political  times,  was  Anson  Burlingame.  He  committed 
his  speeches  carefully  to  memory,  and  delivered  them  so 
finely  as  to  charm  his  audience.  After  a  career  in  Con 
gress  he  was  sent  as  ambassador  to  China,  by  that 
country  to  other  nations,  and  died  young. 

James  Russell  Lowell,  as  a  scholar  and  poet,  probably 
the  first  literary  man  of  America,  came  to  Newburyport 
once  during  the  war,  and  gave  a  lecture  in  aid  of  the 
library,  as  it  was  the  home  of  his  ancestors,  and  I  had 
the  pleasure  of  spending  an  evening  with  him  always  to 
be  remembered,  for  his  conversation  was  as  interesting 
as  his  writing. 

Lyceum  lectures,  such  as  were  given  by  the  men  of 
whom  I  have  spoken,  are  a  thing  of  the  past,  as  are  the 
men  who  gave  them,  for,  I  think,  it  will  not  be  claimed 
that  those  who  now  appear  as  lecturers  are  their  worthy 
successors.  It  is  certain  that  the  audience  would  be 
small  if  a  baseball  game  were  in  progress,  and  the  lecture 
was  for  college  students. 

George  S.  Boutwell  is  said  to  have  recently  expressed 
the  opinion,  right  or  wrong,  that  we  have  now  no  first- 
class  statesman,  orator,  or  literary  man,  and  gave  as  a 
reason  that  the  civil  war  killed  off  the  men  who  would 
have  succeeded  the  great  men  of  the  past.  It  is,  if  true, 
a  strong  argument  against  war,  for  if  ever  our  country 
needed  great  statesmen  it  is  now.  Mr.  Boutwell  is  one 
of  the  few  living  statesmen  who  became  prominent  before 
the  civil  war,  and  has  filled  many  high  positions.  He 
once  gave  the  annual  address  before  the  Female  High 
School. 


SOME   PERSONS   I   HAVE   SEEN  211 

Not  long  after  his  celebrated  debate  with  Douglas, 
Abraham  Lincoln  came  to  New  England,  and  made  some 
political  speeches,  one  at  Woonsocket,  Rhode  Island,  in 
the  interest  of  the  Republican  candidate  for  governor, 
which  I  heard.  I  had  long  wished  to  hear  him  on  ac 
count  of  that  debate,  and  was  glad  of  the  opportunity, 
though  little  dreaming  of  his  remarkable  future.  He  was 
tall,  gaunt,  with  a  smooth  face,  and  though  far  from 
graceful,  an  unusually  interesting  speaker.  His  voice 
was  sharp,  he  was  fluent,  full  of  wit,  told  a  story  finely, 
and  it  was  easy  to  see  what  power  he  would  have  over 
a  Western  audience.  His  pronunciation  was  peculiar  for 
Eastern  ears.  I  remember  he  had  occasion  to  use  the 
phrase  don't  care  several  times,  pronouncing  care  as  if 
spelt  keer.  He  stated  that  he  was  not  familiar  with  East 
ern  local  politics,  and  should  therefore  confine  himself  to 
national  politics ;  and  he  went  over  the  arguments  he 
had  used  with  Douglas,  for  the  Kansas  question  and  the 
extension  of  slavery  were  the  absorbing  questions  of  the 
day.  It  is  a  memory  to  be  cherished  to  have  heard  this 
political  speech  from  Abraham  Lincoln.  I  saw  him  often 
afterwards  in  Washington,  but  never  making  an  ad 
dress. 

I  spent  the  summer  of  1864  at  Marquette,  on  Lake 
Superior,  and  while  there  was  thrown  in  close  contact 
with  two  men  who  afterwards  gained  unexpected  promi 
nence.  One  was  Samuel  J.  Tilden.  He  came  there 
from  the  Chicago  Convention  that  nominated  McClellan 
for  president,  to  inspect  an  iron  mine,  which  he  had 
bought  in  company  with  some  other  gentlemen,  among 
them  William  B.  Ogden,  the  celebrated  railroad  king 
and  ex-mayor  of  Chicago. 


212  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER    ARTICLES 

By  invitation  I  went  into  the  woods  with  them  in 
their  examination  of  the  mine,  where  we  all  camped  out, 
for  it  was  several  miles  from  any  habitation.  They  had 
a  mining  expert  with  them,  examined  the  ore  in  many 
places,  were  pleased  with  its  prospects,  and  laid  out  a 
village  which  must  be  formed  to  work  the  mine,  and  a 
railroad  to  make  easy  access  to  it  for  the  transportation 
of  the  ore. 

Mr.  Tilden  told  me  that  he  had  bought  the  mine  alone, 
and  taken  all  the  responsibility  of  it,  involving  an  ex 
penditure  of  several  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  had 
associated  with  him  the  other  gentlemen.  They  were  a 
merry  set,  with  an  abundance  of  good  refreshments,  not 
forgetting  Kentucky's  favorite  beverage.  I  left  the  camp 
with  a  gentleman  who  was  a  practical  miner,  who  said 
that  the  ore  had  no  value,  and  I  was  told  afterwards  that 
it  so  proved,  though  a  large  sum  was  expended  on  it. 
Mr.  Tilden,  however,  owned  the  whole  of  another  mine 
which  proved  of  value,  and  gave  rise  to  a  controversy 
over  his  income  tax  which  was  started  when  he  became  a 
candidate  for  president,  and  dropped  after  the  election. 

While  in  Marquette  he  was  invited  by  the  Democrats 
to  make  a  political  speech,  and  consented.  While  not 
an  accomplished  orator,  he  was  remarkably  clear,  concise, 
and  logical,  and  made  a  favorable  impression.  Mr.  Og- 
den,  who  was  a  warm  friend  and  business  associate,  told 
me  that  he  regarded  him  as  the  ablest  railroad  lawyer  in 
the  United  States,  that  he  had  one  of  the  best  private 
libraries,  and  was  a  remarkable  man.  I  asked  Mr.  Til 
den  what  was  the  prospect  of  McClellan's  election,  and, 
lawyer-like,  instead  of  giving  his  own  opinion,  he  asked 
me  mine.  Mr.  Tilden  at  that  time  had  never  held  any 


SOME   PERSONS   I   HAVE    SEEN  213 

public  office,  but  had  been  active  at  several  Democratic 
national  conventions.  His  election  as  governor  of  New 
York  and  his  part  in  the  presidential  campaign  of  1876 
could  never  have  entered  his  dreams.  The  future  of  no 
one  in  America  can  be  foretold. 

Another  gentleman  came  to  Marquette  with  his  wife, 
stopped  at  the  same  hotel,  and  I  had  many  conversations 
with  him,  whose  subsequent  history  could  then  little 
have  been  anticipated,  —  James  A.  Garfield.  He  was  a 
pleasant  man  to  meet  socially,  affable  and  unassuming. 
While  there  lie  made  a  political  speech  for  the  Republi 
cans.  He  evidently  had  made  no  preparation,  but  dis 
cussed  ably  the  different  party  issues,  and  made  an 
eloquent  address.  I  expressed  my  surprise  to  him  after 
wards  at  his  fluency  and  command  of  language,  and  he 
said  that  he  never  had  difficulty  in  expressing  his  ideas. 
I  heard  him  many  times  later  in  Congress,  where  he  was 
the  leader  of  his  party  in  debate,  largely  from  his  readi 
ness,  which  so  many  able  men  lack. 

Mr.  Ogden  interested  me  much.  He  spoke  of  the 
men  he  had  met,  among  others  of  Stephen  Girard,  with 
whom  lie  once  had  business.  He  well  deserved  his 
great  popularity  in  Chicago.,  and  his  high  business 
reputation. 

My  first  visit  to  Washington  was  in  1856.  I  reached 
there  the  week  of  the  attack  by  Brooks  on  Charles 
Sumner,  and  when  the  excitement  was  at  its  height. 
One  of  the  pages  showed  me  the  seat  in  which  Sumner 
sat  in  the  old  senate  chamber,  now  the  supreme  court 
room,  — and,  also,  broken  pieces  of  the  cane  with  which 
the  assault  was  made.  The  next  Saturday  the  band,  as 
usual,  played  in  front  of  the  White  House,  and  mem- 


214  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

bers  of  Congress  and  people  generally  were  there  to 
listen  to  the  music  and  to  promenade,  and  the  crowd  was 
greater  on  account  of  the  excitement.  The  most  ob 
served  of  all  was  Brooks,  walking  around,  chatting  with 
friends,  and  apparently  as  unconcerned  as  if  he  were  not 
the  object  of  such  general  attention.  He  was  a  tall, 
slender  man,  comparatively  young.  He  died  soon  after, 
and  did  not  live  to  see  the  great  struggle  which  he  did 
so  much  to  hasten,  for  it  must  have  come,  sooner  or 
later.  He  was  said  to  have  been  an  amiable  man,  but 
was  urged  on  by  false  chivalry  to  an  act  cowardly  in 
itself,  and  in  the  manner  of  it.  He  declined  to  write 
his  name  in  my  autograph  book  which  a  page  handed 
him. 

It  was  the  first  time  I  had  ever  met  President  Pierce. 
He  was  a  handsome  man,  and  a  gentleman  in  all  his 
intercourse  with  others.  He  had  an  able  Cabinet,  the 
only  one  to  date  unbroken  during  a  whole  presidential 
term.  No  one  ever  fulfilled  the  social  duties  of  his 
position  more  acceptably,  though  they  were  much  less 
onerous  than  now.  He  was  popular  in  the  district,  and 
once  gave  a  party  to  the  leading  citizens,  saying  that  he 
was  their  neighbor  and  wished  to  establish  pleasant 
relations  with  them.  He  was  a  fine  orator,  and  the  only 
president  down  to  Mr.  Cleveland  who  gave  his  inaugural 
without  notes.  It  was  an  unfortunate  period  for  him,  as 
the  anti-slavery  sentiment,  with  which  he  did  not  sym 
pathize,  was  growing,  and  he  could  not  satisfy  by  his 
action  the  North  and  South.  This  course  made  him 
unpopular  in  the  North,  and  it  has  extended  to  his 
memory.  He  rests  in  an  obscure  graveyard,  a  plain 
monument  over  him,  with  no  inscription  except  his  name 


SOME   PERSONS   I   HAVE   SEEN  215 

and  the  dates  of  his  birth  and  decease.  When  I  had 
the  curiosity  years  ago  to  see  the  grave  of  an  ex- 
president,  the  mayor  of  the  city  did  not  know  its  loca 
tion.  His  motives  have  been  impugned  and  his  patriot 
ism  denied.  Yet  those  who  knew  him  most  intimately 
assert  that  a  warmer-hearted  man  and  more  generous 
never  lived,  nor  one  more  devoted  to  his  country,  for 
which  he  had  fought.  His  wife  was  a  most  estimable 
and  cultivated  lady,  the  daughter  of  President  Appleton 
of  Bowdoin  College,  and  once  a  clergyman  of  Hampton, 
N.H.  She  was  in  delicate  health,  and  saddened  by  the 
death  of  their  only  child,  by  an  accident,  just  before  the 
inauguration. 

As  is  well  known,  President  Pierce  was  a  classmate  of 
Nathaniel  Hawthorne,  his  life-long  devoted  friend,  who 
wrote  his  campaign  biography,  and  to  whom  he  gave  the 
best  paying  office  at  his  disposal,  for  the  great  author's 
wealth  was  limited.  The  two  friends  were  together  at 
the  time  of  Hawthorne's  decease,  during  a  journey 
undertaken  by  invitation  of  Mr.  Pierce,  in  the  hope  that 
it  might  improve  the  health  of  Mr.  Hawthorne.  A 
friend  of  mine  has  given  me  an  account  of  his  death  that 
came  to  him  from  Mr.  Pierce  himself.  Mr.  Pierce  had 
been  so  anxious  about  his  friend  that  he  went  into  his 
room  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  and  found  him  dead. 
On  examining  his  portemonnaie,  the  only  contents  were 
a  little  money  and  a  picture  of  Mr.  Pierce  himself,  at 
testing  his  great  love  for  his  friend.  All  the  personal 
friends  of  Mr.  Pierce  were  devoted  to  him.  General 
Drum,  adjutant-general  of  the  army,  who  served  with 
him  in  the  Mexican  war,  told  me  that  the  soldiers  loved 
him  with  the  love  of  man  for  woman.  I  was  his  political 


216  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   O^HER   ARTICLES 

opponent  and  would  not  vote  for  him,  but  have  written 
this  as  an  act  of  justice. 

The  Senate  of  the  United  States  had  then  many  able 
men,  for  it  was  before  the  time  when  wealth  has  done  so 
much  to  fill  it.  Among  the  members  were  Lewis  Cass, 
defeated  for  the  presidency  by  General  Taylor,  Mason 
and  Slidell,  so  well  known  later  by  their  seizure  during 
the  war  of  the  Rebellion,  B.  F.  Wade,  rough  and  pro 
fane,  but  able  and  sincere,  who  came  so  near  the  presi 
dency  by  the  impeachment  of  Andrew  Johnson,  Wm.  H. 
Seward,  as  a  young  man  governor  of  New  York,  com 
petitor  with  Lincoln  as  a  candidate  for  president,  and 
later  his  secretary  of  state  and  that  of  Andrew  Johnson, 
J.  J.  Crittenden,  an  able  lawyer  and  celebrated  for  his 
wit  and  eloquence,  John  Bell,  candidate  for  president 
with  Edward  Everett  for  vice-president  on  the  Union 
ticket  in  1860,  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  able,  ambitious, 
like  so  many  others,  losing  the  presidency  when  appar 
ently  so  near  attaining  it,  and  dying  prematurely,  Rob 
ert  Toombs  and  Judah  P.  Benjamin,  distinguished  as 
among  the  leaders  of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  Lyman 
Trumbull,  who  defeated  Lincoln  for  the  Senate,  and  one 
of  the  ablest  and  readiest  debaters  ever  in  the  Senate, 
A.  P.  Butler,  the  uncle  of  Brooks,  and  the  occasion  of 
the  assault,  old,  feeble,  white-haired,  who  died  the  fol 
lowing  year,  William  Pitt  Fessenden,  the  ablest  debater 
ever  in  Congress  from  Maine,  and  a  conscientious  politi 
cian,  whose  early  death  was  so  much  lamented,  R.  M.  P. 
Hunter,  who  had  been  speaker  of  the  House,  Henry 
Wilson,  vice-president  with  Grant,  Charles  Sumner,  his 
seat  temporarily  vacant  by  the  assault. 

In    the    House    of   Representatives    were    Alexander 


SOME  PERSONS   I  HAVE  SEEN  217 

Stephens,  later  vice-president  of  the  Southern  Confed 
eracy,  and  soon  after  its  collapse  coming  back  and  serv 
ing  some  years,  so  paralyzed  that  he  was  wheeled  around 
in  a  chair,  Ho  well  Cobb,  Galusha  A.  Grow,  and  Schuy- 
ler  Colfax,  all  afterwards  speakers  of  the  House,  the  last 
vice-president  and  dying  under  a  cloud,  Joshua  R.  Gid- 
dings,  one  of  the  earliest,  most  fearless,  and  most  persis 
tent  of  the  anti-slavery  agitators,  a  large  man,  able  but 
not  eloquent,  and  many  others,  most  of  them  now  dead 
and  forgotten,  as  are  most  members  when  their  term  has 
expired. 

Washington  was  excited  by  the  Brooks  assault  and 
the  approaching  Democratic  National  Convention,  whose 
members  were  passing  through  the  city,  and  though  I 
could  see  the  many  prominent  politicians  there  was  no 
debate  of  general  interest.  It  was  more  the  working  of 
those  forces  that  broke  forth  so  soon  after  in  the  great 
Rebellion,  and  one  of  its  first  effects  was  the  nomi 
nation  of  Buchanan,  then  in  London,  for  president, 
instead  of  Pierce  or  Douglas,  both  of  whom  were 
supposed  to  be  too  much  in  sympathy  with  the  South 
to  be  run  against  the  Northern  feeling,  so  excited  by 
the  Brooks  assault. 

Of  the  Cabinet  of  Mr.  Pierce,  William  L.  Marcy,  Sec 
retary  of  State,  James  Guthrie,  Secretary  of  the  Treas 
ury,  Jefferson  Davis,  Secretary  of  War,  and  Caleb  Gush 
ing,  Attorney-General,  were  unusually  able  men,  and  I 
need  not  say  how  prominent  Davis  was,  subsequently. 
I  had  an  opportunity  to  see  them,  and  have  their  names 
in  my  autograph  book,  as  well  as  those  of  most  of  the 
members  of  the  Senate  and  House  in  1856. 

I  was  in  Washington  many  times  during  the  war,  vis- 


218  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND   OTHER   ARTICLES 

ited  the  forts,  and  saw  much  of  the  army  and  its  gen 
erals.  I  was  there  just  after  the  battle  of  Bull  Run, 
when  the  fear  lest  the  city  might  be  taken  was  greater 
than  at  any  other  period.  A  great  many  members  of 
Congress  and  others  went  to  see  the  battle  as  to  any 
other  entertainment,  not  dreaming  of  danger,  and  when 
it  was  realized  that  they  might  be  captured,  made  the 
best  time  possible  for  Washington  on  foot,  for  there 
were  no  hacks  to  convey  them.  No  one,  as  he  told  his 
story  on  his  arrival,  admitted  any  fear,  and  each  said  he 
was  the  last  to  leave  the  field.  I  had  an  account  after 
wards  from  Julius  Bing,  a  reporter,  and  Mr.  Ely,  a 
member  of  Congress  from  New  York,  both  of  whom  were 
taken  prisoners.  They  had  intended  to  keep  in  the  rear 
of  our  army,  and  their  mistake  was  in  keeping  too  far  in 
the  rear.  Mr.  Bing  named  to  me  several  prominent 
public  men  whose  activity  in  their  efforts  to  escape  cap 
tivity  commended  itself  to  him. 

I  was  in  Washington  during  the  session  of  1860-1, 
when  the  Southern  senators  were  leaving  their  seats.  I 
remember,  especially,  John  C.  Breckenridge  of  Ken 
tucky,  who  had  been  vice-president,  and  a  defying 
speech  made  by  him  just  before  he  left.  He  was  a 
handsome  man,  of  a  noted  family.  After  the  down 
fall  of  the  Confederacy  he  was  obliged  to  leave  the 
country,  and  spent  several  years  in  banishment,  and 
probably  never  was  a  man  happier  than  he  was  when 
allowed  to  return  home.  One  of  the  consuls  in  Asia 
told  me  how  strongly  he  had  expressed  to  him  the  supe 
riority  of  his  native  land  over  every  other.  An  Ameri 
can  will  go  abroad  to  make  money,  for  which  he  will 
go  anywhere  and  do  almost  anything,  —  he  would  reach 


SOME   PERSONS   I   HAVE   SEEN  219 

the  North  Pole  if  he  could  be  persuaded  it  is  made  of 
solid  gold,  —  but  he  would  return  all  the  more  grateful 
to  God  for  his  American  birth. 

I  met  in  Washington  Mrs.  Gaines,  celebrated  for  her 
long  legal  contests.  She  was  a  little  woman,  and  en 
thusiastic  in  her  praise  of  Rufus  Choate,  who  had 
been  her  attorney.  I  became  acquainted,  too,  with 
Mrs.  Southworth,  whom  readers  of  fiction  years  ago 
will  remember,  who  said  she  had  written,  I  think, 
seventy-five  novels. 

Not  long  before  he  died  I  was  introduced  to  Henry  A. 
Wise,  and  heard  a  lecture  by  him  on  the  commercial  ad 
vantages  of  Norfolk.  Handsome,  with  a  voice  of  extraor 
dinary  compass,  with  great  wit  and  power  of  illustration, 
few  Americans  have  been  more  eloquent,  or  had  more 
power  over  a  popular  assembly.  He  was  an  actor  in 
many  historical  events.  Not  always  wise,  he  had  his 
virtues.  He  never  gambled,  and  was  sincere  in  his 
action.  "  He  never  regarded  majorities  if  they  were 
wrong,"  said  one  of  his  biographers. 

I  once  had  a  long  interview  with  Thomas  Ewing,  one 
of  the  most  celebrated  statesmen  of  his  period,  secretary  of 
the  treasury  in  1841,  and  holding  many  other  high  posi 
tions.  He  was  a  large  man,  bald,  plain  in  manner  and 
appearance.  General  Sherman  was  his  adopted  son,  and 
married  his  daughter. 

Just  after  the  war  closed,  so  early  that  Richmond  was 
still  burning,  I  visited  the  city,  saw  Libby  prison,  the 
battlefield  of  Petersburg,  and  other  points  made  memor 
able  by  our  sad  contest.  At  the  church  in  Richmond  I 
had  my  only  view  of  General  Lee,  and  as  he  passed  from 
the  church  the  devotion  of  the  people  to  him  was  plainly 


220  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER   ARTICLES 

manifested.  I  also  went  through  the  South  generally, 
saw  the  ravages  of  the  war,  talked  with  the  women,  and 
heard  their  tales  of  suffering,  and  could  well  realize  the 
truth  of  General  Sherman's  remark,  "  War  is  hell." 

By  the  aid  of  high  influence  I  one  day  gained  admis 
sion  to  the  trial  of  Mrs.  Surra tt,  and  the  men  tried  with 
her  for  the  murder  of  President  Lincoln.  Mrs.  Surratt 
strove  as  much  as  possible  to  avoid  observation,  and  it 
was  pitiful  to  look  at  her.  She  was  convicted  and  hung, 
but  no  less  an  authority  than  General  Butler  always  re 
garded  it  as  an  unjust  verdict.  Her  friends  claimed  that 
she  knew  nothing  of  the  crime  till  it  had  been  commit 
ted  —  that,  mother-like,  she  only  aided  her  son  to  escape  ; 
but  the  excitement  after  the  assassination  was  too  great 
for  a  calm  trial.  The  other  prisoners  looked  very  mean, 
with  the  exception  of  Payne,  who  was  bold  in  appear 
ance,  and  gloried  to  the  last  in  his  act. 

For  years  before  and  after  the  war  I  was  accustomed 
to  spend  much  of  the  winter  in  Washington,  and  was 
often  at  the  Capitol  to  listen  to  the  debates.  Sometimes 
I  was  repaid  for  my  trouble,  but  seldom.  I  have  been 
present  at  all  the  inaugurations  from  the  second  of  Grant 
to  that  of  McKinley,  which  have  become  more  and  more 
occasions  of  general  interest.  I  attended  several  sessions 
of  the  Electoral  Commission,  and  was  a  witness  to  the 
intense  feeling  of  that  exciting  period.  It  was  well 
understood  what  the  decision  would  be,  but  it  was  not 
rendered  till  late  in  the  night,  and  my  first  knowledge  of 
it  was  a  cry,  a  little  after  midnight,  of  "  Hurrah  for 
Hayes." 

One  who  wishes  a  high  opinion  of  Congress  had  better 
gain  it  from  the  reports  of  newspaper  correspondents, 


SOME   PERSONS   I   HAVE   SEEN  221 

many  of  whom  are  in  the  employ  of  the  members,  rather 
than  by  looking  down  from  the  galleries.  A  story  is 
told  of  Senator  Nesmith,  the  first  senator  from  Oregon. 
On  his  first  appearance  at  Washington,  the  other  sena 
tors,  thinking  that  he  must  be  poorly  informed,  coming 
from  a  State  so  far  away  from  civilization,  asked  him  his 
sensation.  He  replied  that,  coming  from  the  woods,  and 
seeing  all  the  grandeur  and  display  of  Washington,  his 
first  sensation  had  been  one  of  awe,  and  he  wondered 
how  so  humble  an  individual  as  himself  had  ever  got 
there.  But  he  had  not  been  there  long,  and  seen  them, 
and  heard  them  debate  before  he  still  more  wondered 
how  they  ever  got  there.  Some  expletives  have  been 
omitted.  He  was  asked  no  more  questions. 

Yet  there  have  been  many  able  men  in  the  Senate, 
and  many  such  are  there  now.  Of  the  recent  deceased 
members  no  one  has  attracted  more  attention  or  drawn 
greater  crowds  to  his  speeches  than  Charles  Sumner. 
He  was  a  handsome  man,  finely  developed,  had  a  clear, 
distinct  voice,  and  was  an  eloquent  speaker.  His 
speeches  were  carefully  prepared,  for  he  was  a  scholar, 
and  at  first  were  committed  to  memory,  and  later  read 
from  manuscript,  or  from  a  printed  copy.  He  did  not 
excel  as  a  debater,  for  he  could  not  reply  till  he  had 
taken  time  to  prepare  himself,  when  the  effect  was  much 
lessened. 

I  have  known  ladies  of  high  literary  reputation.  Mrs. 
Harriet  Beecher  Stowe  was  the  most  noted  American 
authoress  of  the  century.  No  book  up  to  her  time  had 
ever  had  such  a  phenomenal  world-wide  reputation  as 
her  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  published  first  in  the  "  Na 
tional  Era,"  and  in  book  form  in  1852.  It  did  much  to 


222  BIOGRAPHICAL   AND    OTHER   ARTICLES 

intensify  the  opposition  to  slavery,  resulting  a  few  years 
later  in  the  civil  war.  No  American  author  ever 
had  such  an  ovation  in  England.  Her  pathos  was  re 
markable,  and  few  strong  women,  or  men,  could  read  her 
"  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  "  unmoved.  I  knew  a  cool  old 
lawyer  who  took  up  the  volume,  and  continued  to  read 
late  into  the  night,  and  at  last  burst  into  tears,  exclaim 
ing,  "Uncle  Tom's  dead."  She  was  plain  in  her  manner, 
paying  but  little  attention  to  her  toilet,  but  pleasing  and 
natural. 

Few  American  ladies  had  so  sharp  and  witty  a  pen  as 
Miss  M.  A.  Dodge,  generally  known  as  Gail  Hamilton, 
and  it  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  a  difficulty  with  her 
publishers  withdrew  from  circulation  some  of  her  best 
books.  In  social  intercourse  she  was  as  bright  and 
sparkling  as  in  her  writings. 

Lucy  Larcom  was  a  factory  girl  in  early  life,  of  which 
she  was  never  ashamed,  then  a  teacher.  She  was  a  type 
of  fine  womanhood,  and  wrote  some  sweet  poetry  that 
will  not  be  forgotten. 

James  Parton  was  my  neighbor  for  years,  a  most  lov 
able  man,  and  one  of  the  most  fascinating  of  biographers. 
He  had  a  sympathy  with  all  that  could  be  commended 
in  his  heroes,  and  found  it  easy  to  apologize  for  their 
faults.  No  one  can  read  his  "Life  of  Aaron  Burr"  and 
not  feel  that  he  does  not  deserve  the  severe  verdict  of 
history. 

For  a  great  many  years  I  lived  near  and  often  met  one 
whom  it  is  an  honor  to  have  known,  one  of  America's 
greatest  poets,  and  the  last  person  I  will  mention,  John 
G.  Whittier.  Simple,  like  his  religion,  in  dress,  manner, 
language,  and  feeling,  few  poets  of  the  century  have  so 


SOME   PERSONS   I   HAVE   SEEN  223 

painted  human  wrongs,  so  entered  into  the  hearts  of  the 
people,  and  will  so  long  be  read  and  admired  as  this 
Quaker  poet. 

He  lived  to  a  great  age,  yet  when  about  forty  had 
been  told  that  by  great  care  he  might  live  to  see  fifty. 

In  what  I  have  written  I  have  spoken  only  of  the 
deceased. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


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LD  21A-60??i-7,'66                                       General  Library 
(G4427slO)476B                                 University  of  California 
Berkeley 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


YC179693 


